By Tracy Ross, The Colorado Sun | February 10, 2026
Symphony CEO Daniel Wachter says he’s sweetening the pot for orchestra musicians with collective bargaining agreements
If symphonies had Super Bowls, the Colorado Symphony’s kicked off Jan. 30 at Radio City Music Hall and ended Feb. 1 at Carnegie Hall, both in New York City. That’s when the orchestra took to those stages, with Boulder’s Grammy-nominated folk singer Gregory Alan Isakov and virtuoso violinist Itzhak Perlman, who, among other things, played for Queen Elizabeth in the George W. Bush White House and at the first inauguration of President Barack Obama.
It hasn’t always been easy attracting talent, however. The symphony is in its 102nd season, and Wachter said even though they’ve “developed an incredible artistic level, the challenge and the opportunity is financially,” as in figuring out how to pay musicians a living wage in the third most expensive U.S. state with housing costs approximately 15% higher than the national average.