Philharmonic Musicians

Your headline writers referred to those Los Angeles Philharmonic musicians not playing in the orchestra for “Pelleas et Melisande” as “2nd Team,” and Martin Bernheimer referred to “the leftover players, mostly culled from slightly lower ranks” (“Sometimes Little Things Mean Less,” Feb. 6).

In the Los Angeles Philharmonic we do not have a “2nd Team.” The musicians playing the concerts with Jaime Laredo went through the same auditioning process as their colleagues in the “Pelleas” pit. The majority of them are section string players (as are those in the “Pelleas” orchestra), who enjoy equal status with their section colleagues and are seated on a revolving basis. We are proud of every single one of our musicians and resent the implication that any one of them may be considered a second-class citizen of the orchestra.

ERNEST FLEISCHMANN

Executive Vice President

and Managing Director

Los Angeles Philharmonic

Los Angeles