Inside the Chorus: The Human Impact of San Francisco Symphony Budget Cuts
Singer Troy Turriate’s Struggle Against Losing His Livelihood and Community
By Troy Turriate
For five years now, I’ve been a dedicated member of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, contributing my time and talent first as an unpaid singer and, more recently, with the promise of a union contract. Now, the Symphony's proposal to dramatically cut our budget has thrown my future—and that of my fellow choristers—into uncertainty. As we discussed in our very first open letter, beyond the immediate impact on our livelihoods, these budget cuts threaten to unravel a vital part of the Bay Area’s cultural nervous system as well.
The chorus, composed of 32 union members and over 120 unpaid singers, is more than just a group of voices; we are a community of people whose lives are deeply intertwined with their art. As a musician who began playing in rock bands at the age of 12, I always dreamed of a career in the Arts. After studying vocal performance but ultimately working in tech, I finally moved to the Bay Area in 2014 with the intention of reintegrating into the world of music. The Bay Area is a beacon for artists like me, offering the rare stability of union jobs through institutions like the San Francisco Symphony, thanks to the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA).
My personal journey has been a long one, marked by years of balancing multiple jobs and financial uncertainty. Once I moved, I took a job singing opera for tourists in North Beach. However, I was unexpectedly pulled back into the world of tech and spent the next 8.5 years working for a well-known financial tech company. I had once again pressed “pause” on my dream. Despite working in tech for nearly a decade, my passion for music never waned.
By 2019, I auditioned and joined the SF Symphony Chorus as an unpaid singer, recognizing that it took years of dedication to reach this stepping stone, which came without a paycheck. Then 2020 happened. The pandemic disrupted our lives for a number of years, but I remained committed, participating in online projects as part of the chorus and seizing every opportunity to perform as venues reopened.
In 2023, I took a leap of faith, transitioning to a full-time music career. This decision was only possible through the connections and opportunities I’d cultivated during my time in the SF Symphony Chorus and the fact I’d spent years saving money from working in tech. Finally, in 2024, I reached a significant milestone: I was added to the AGMA sub list with the SF Symphony Chorus for the 2024-25 season.
It felt like a culmination of years of struggle and sacrifice—a dream realized.
After 15 years of preserving the flickering ember of creativity in my soul, through youth into middle age, through challenging jobs and long hours, through disillusion and soul searching, a new day had finally dawned—I was now going to become a professional union singer with a major symphony orchestra! All the toil and financial burden of countless hours of practice, voice lessons, sight singing, theory, harmonic analysis, section leader work, and rushing to concerts all over the state all seemed worth it at that moment.
But before I could even celebrate, the news about the proposed budget cuts to the chorus hit. The irony being, now that I’d crossed the professional threshold, I’d actually be performing much less, and perhaps not at all.
The chorus has been my musical home, pushing me to grow and providing invaluable professional connections. The proposed cuts, representing an enormous reduction of what is already a small fraction of the Symphony's overall budget, are disproportionate and unjust. I believe a move like this risks stripping San Francisco of its status as a city that values and supports professional musicians and sets a troubling precedent for other institutions nationwide. The ripple effects of these cuts will be felt far beyond the confines of the Symphony and San Francisco. If these changes happen in San Francisco, what’s to stop other houses from trying to follow suit and attempting to gut their paid vocal programs? This narrows the already small list of cities that offer singers opportunities for professional union work.
Supporting and preserving the SF Symphony Chorus is crucial—not only for the choristers but for the entire Bay Area. The arts are not a luxury but a vital part of our shared cultural experience, and their erosion would be a loss for everyone. This is just my story, but every single San Francisco Symphony chorus member has a similar tale. The future is now a dark abyss we are forced to face.
AGMA will continue to fight, and hopefully, we will find common ground. However, for the last few weeks, my thoughts have been racing. “Will I need to leave the city I’ve come to call home? Where would I go if I had to leave? My entire life is rooted here.” I still want to sing beautiful music for a living, and have worked hard to realize this dream. However, out of precaution, I’ve accepted another tech job with a startup company, just in case. Despite the fact that my full-time transition into music has been going well and my future finally looked promising, it all feels unfairly gripped with uncertainty now.
Please come together as a community to advocate for the preservation of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus. Support the Arts, voice your concerns, and help us ensure that the Bay Area remains a top destination for Artists from every corner of the globe. Your involvement can make a difference. Stand with us and help save our jobs by saving the chorus.
Visit here for ways to help Save the San Francisco Symphony Chorus.
Author Bio
Troy Turriate is a classical tenor, multi instrumentalist, and sound healer living in Oakland, CA. He’s proudly made the SF Bay area his home since 2014 and has worked in the music, tech, and food sectors. He shares life with his loving partner Amie (also a musician) and two dogs—they intend to stay in the Bay Area as long as possible.