Interest in attending live orchestral performance has declined. Many have closed and more will fail. Many charitable contributors relied upon to keep the doors open have turned their interests elsewhere. There is an imbalance, too much supply too little demand. A correction is coming. Those of us that enjoy classical music have no shortage of recorded performances to listen to at our leisure.
$160k a year plus a pension seems high for a musician.
People who play instruments in groups on the charts don’t seeing figures that high and have no pension.
We can debate relative merits of one type of music over another but even many recognized jazz musicians don’t get that.
Hollywood uses Eastern European orchestras for film scores these days.
Everyone can be replaced.