Lawrence.com

With talks with its striking orchestra members at a standstill, the Dallas Opera announced it would begin its season next month with only a piano accompanying its singers.

A federally mediated bargaining session between both sides ended Wednesday with neither side willing to make a deal.

"There was no progress whatsoever. In fact, we're farther apart than we were before," said Ray Hair, president of Local 72-147 of the American Federation of Musicians, which is representing the orchestra's players.

No further negotiations are scheduled.

For logistical reasons, Wednesday was the deadline for orchestral participation in the first planned production of the season, Verdi's "Simon Boccanegra," said Anthony Whitworth-Jones, the opera's general director.

Playing with piano rather than orchestra is unprecedented in Dallas and in Whitworth-Jones' 25 years of operatic experience. The opera is to be presented Nov. 3, 6, 9 and 11, according to the opera's Web site.

"It is desperately upsetting; it is desperately sad," Whitworth-Jones said. Hair said the players would picket the performances at the Music Hall.

At issue are pay and benefits for the 77-member orchestra.

The company has offered the musicians a three-year contract, with $800 a week the first year � the same rate as last season � an 8 percent raise to $864 in the second year and a 6 percent raise to $915 in the third.

Members of the orchestra said they want parity with similar orchestras in the area, as well as benefits such as health insurance. They said they are getting 20 percent less.

Dallas Opera President Ruben Esquivel called the orchestra's demands unreasonable, especially considering the economic downturn.

Whitworth-Jones said that there was no thought of hiring nonunion players, because "it would take far too long to get them together, and they wouldn't be able to rehearse to a standard that would be acceptable."