International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians

The International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians (ICSOM)[1] is a Players' Conference of the American Federation of Musicians (AFM)[2]

In March 2009, ICSOM chairman Bruce Ridge appeared before Congress. His testimony before the House Committee on Education and Labor on the economic impact of the arts and music industry can be viewed on YouTube [3]

So, in 1962, members of US and Canadian orchestras began to meet and discuss ways they could communicate with each other, drafted bylaws, and began pushing the AFM for formal recognition of ICSOM as a conference of the AFM. Actual conference status was not conferred upon ICSOM until 1969. ICSOM's example, and successes over the years inspired other groups to organize into formal conferences as well – the Recording Musicians Association (RMA)[4], the Regional Orchestra Players' Association (ROPA)[5], and the Theatre Musicians Association (TMA)[6]. ICSOM's Canadian members left ICSOM when the Organization of Canadian Symphony Musicians (OCSM/OMOSC)[7] was formed in 1975.

In 1967 ICSOM began tabulating conductor evaluations and has nearly 600 different conductors in the current database. ICSOM is also involved in supporting minority-group instrumentalists and currently contributes prize money to winners of the Sphinx Competition[8].

Several books have chronicled the history of ICSOM, including More Than Meets the Ear: How Symphony Musicians Made Labor History [9] by Julie Ayer (Syren Book Company) and Forty Years of the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians by Tom Hall (Oscar's House Press).

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