FIRST OFF . . .

Members of the Baltimore Symphony orchestra return to the concert hall this week after ending the longest strike in American symphony history. After 84 canceled concerts during the 22-week walkout, the orchestra will return to its home at Meyerhoff Hall for a performance Thursday. Orchestra members ratified a contract that assures them a minimum $1,040 a week in the 1991-1992 season. By the end of the four-year, $4.6-million contract, players will earn 35% more than the $770 weekly minimum they received at the end of the three-year pact that expired in September. Unlike many orchestras, the musicians in the Baltimore Symphony are paid for a 52-week year. The contract was approved late Saturday by a vote of 78-7; members of the orchestra board had approved it on Friday. “We think it’s an excellent settlement and it meets the players’ needs for parity with the orchestras of St. Louis and Cincinnati,” said Charles Underwood, the players’ representative in negotiations. He referred to the musicians’ demand that their wages be on a par with those of orchestras they consider equals. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to face the future and become a better and deeper institution,” said John Gidwitz, the orchestra’s executive director, who added that ticket prices may go up “modestly.”