FIRST OFF . . .

Detroit Symphony Orchestra musicians have voted to take a 9.8% pay cut in a four-year contract designed to keep the orchestra alive. The agreement was approved 82-8 with one abstention. The musicians had one year left on their old contract, but the orchestra sought a new one to reduce its debt, projected at $11.7 million for this budget year. Under the new contract, the base annual salary will drop to $47,694. The symphony missed a payroll last month and had threatened to close until the Michigan legislature appropriated $1 million in emergency aid, received last week. The orchestra’s financial problems have been blamed on low attendance caused by an inability to draw younger concertgoers and blacks, who make up two-thirds of the city’s population of 1 million. Commenting on the pay cut, Wesley Jacobs of the Detroit Federation of Musicians said, “We want to do everything we can to be a part of the rejuvenation of the financial health of this orchestra.” The musicians say the 75-year-old orchestra is an important asset for a city fighting a reputation for drugs and crime.