Ballet, musicians reach agreement

American Ballet Theatre and its musicians union have agreed on a new contract deal that the union said requires the ballet to use only live musicians and bans so-called virtual orchestras.

ABT Executive Director Rachel Moore said the tentative contract runs for three years and said the ballet was “committed to the use of live music.”

Neither side released financial details of the tentative contract deal, which thwarted a possible strike. Members of the union, Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians, were to begin voting on it Tuesday night.

The union portrayed the deal as a victory in a fight by theater musicians, including those on Broadway, against the use of virtual orchestra machines, which save money over live performers. More than a dozen Broadway musicals went dark in March 2003 for four days after the musicians union walked out, and theaters lost more than $5 million in revenue.