Musicians of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra play a concert at Kirk in the Hills in September, before the start of a six-month strike. / ROMAIN BLANQUART/Detroit Free Press
Detroit Symphony Orchestra musicians took another step closer Monday to making music at Orchestra Hall this weekend. The players voted to return to work for rehearsals beginning Thursday -- even as they said a formal ratification vote on a new contract wouldn't be completed until Friday.
Musicians and management reached a tentative contract settlement late Sunday, paving the way for the end of a six-month strike, the longest and most contentious labor dispute among U.S. orchestras in decades.
Music Director Leonard Slatkin will conduct free concerts for patrons on Saturday and Sunday. The program features Dvorak's "New World Symphony," a symbolic gesture, perhaps, of a fresh start for the orchestra.
Returning to work before ratifying the contract is a sign that the musicians expect a majority to vote for the agreement, though spokesman Greg Bowens said a "no" vote was still possible.
Many DSO patrons greeted news of the tentative settlement with the joy of the "Hallelujah Chorus."
"I feel enormous relief," said Geoffrey Nathan of Grosse Pointe. "I really, really have missed the orchestra and live classical music."