Classical music: A fair wage — but those in bigger cities make more

By Kyle MacMillan
Denver Post Fine Arts Critic
Article Last Updated: 07/13/2008

With bachelor and master of music performance degrees under her belt, Tamara Meredith envisioned a life as a college professor, focusing on her specialization in early music.

But things didn’t quite work out that way. Instead, she is the full-time director of the Eaton Public Library, and the flutist and violist performs on the side with the Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado and the Dallas Bach Society, and substitutes as needed in a few area modern orchestras.

She couldn’t be happier. “I have a day job in a place that I really enjoy,” Meredith said. “I get to help a lot of people with the work that I do, so that’s very fulfulling. And my evenings and weekends, I’m free to perform whenever and wherever I want.”

Such patchwork lives are common in the classical world. While a handful of the field’s star soloists can command as much as $100,000 for an appearance, thousands of other musicians must scramble to make ends meet.

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