Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

We learn all kinds of interesting things when we're at loose ends during a pandemic lockdown. Did you know that Baltimore Symphony Orchetsra Music Director Marin Alsop co-founded a swing band?

The battle between management and musicians, which reached a low point with a June lockout by management, ended Monday with the ratification of a new one-year contract.

Contract and salary negotiations between musicians and management have stalled, leaving BSO players picketing outside their concert hall.

The financially embattled organization surprised its musicians, and its audience, by shortening its season and cutting the players pay and vacation, it announced Thursday.