66 Phoenix Symphony Musicians Laid Off by Email Mid-Season

Sixty-six musicians lost their primary income in a single email. That's the scale of the layoffs announced last week by the Phoenix Symphony, Arizona's largest arts organization, whose 25-person board said it will suspend the rest of the season after Nov. 1 and let go of every player on the roster. The board says the organization has been operating in the red for years and can't afford to finish the season.

The musicians aren't accepting that as the final word. They're demanding the board open its books, release the organization's financial records, and work with them to keep the orchestra on stage.

How did the musicians find out?

Viviana Cumplido Wilson, principal flute and a 20-year member of the orchestra, described the timeline in an interview with KJZZ. The notification came hours after a normal working day.

"We had rehearsal that morning with Ballet Arizona, and later that afternoon, the orchestra was notified by email that the season would be suspended after our Nov. 1 concert."

The email made clear that suspension meant job loss for all 66 players. Cumplido Wilson said the musicians remain in shock. Many are long-tenured; others are recent hires who relocated to join the ensemble. She noted that most players started their instruments as young children, making a symphony chair the end point of a lifelong pursuit — a career that can't simply be reassigned.

What does it mean for household incomes?

The layoffs wipe out the primary source of income for all 66 musicians. The damage is concentrated in five households where both spouses play in the orchestra.

"In five cases, there are five married couples in the orchestra who are about to lose their entire household income."

Cumplido Wilson said players had little time to prepare and are now working out how to cover rent, mortgages and bills. The layoffs hit with no transition period — one concert on the calendar, Nov. 1, then nothing. For a specialized labor market where full-time orchestra positions are scarce and audition cycles run long, the practical takeaway is stark: an entire metropolitan region's classical music workforce is now job-hunting at the same moment.

Why now, after a strong season opener?

Financial trouble at the organization isn't new. Cumplido Wilson said money problems have surfaced repeatedly over her two decades, and fundraising has always come through before — "one step forward, another step back," in her words, but the lights stayed on.

What stunned the players was the timing. The announcement came right after a well-received season opener with new music director Paolo Bortolameolli. "We all just walked away from that opening weekend feeling like the world was our oyster," she said. The contrast between an artistically strong opening and an abrupt financial shutdown is what made the decision feel sudden rather than inevitable.

The Phoenix Symphony declined an invitation to appear on the program.

What's at stake for Phoenix?

Cumplido Wilson framed the loss in civic terms. Phoenix is the fifth-largest city in the country, but a young one, still building its arts identity. She argued every great city deserves a healthy arts community and that a symphony is a core component.

She also emphasized that the musicians aren't visitors. They live and work in Phoenix, and their off-stage work — performances in schools, memory care facilities, hospice treatment centers and for the unhoused — is part of the orchestra's community role.

On the question of what's lost, she pointed to live performance itself. Recorded media can't replace shared, in-person concert experiences, she said, and society needs places where people from all walks of life gather around something meaningful together.

Cumplido Wilson says she has hope the community will rally behind the orchestra, as it has in past financial squeezes, and that support could keep the concerts and the community work going — a future that now depends on whether the board opens its records and negotiates with the 66 musicians it laid off.