The local chapter of the American Federation of Musicians union, Local 802, will welcome a new president. Robert Suttmann, who ran unopposed, will begin his tenure in the role on Jan. 1, 2025. He succeeds outgoing president Sara Cutler, who has led the union since August 2023. Cutler will continue to serve on Local 802’s executive board.
Local 802 is the greater New York chapter of the national union for professional musicians, AFM. Its members perform on Broadway, at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall and Radio City, in recording studios, on televised events, in local clubs and more.
Suttmann is a professional trombonist, who has played in the orchestras of more than 95 Broadway musicals. Most recently, he played in the union tour of “Beetlejuice” and is also the longstanding trombonist of the Big Apple Circus. Suttmann has previously served on 802’s executive board, trial board and other union committees.
“I am honored to lead this powerful union of the world’s finest musicians, and I have great faith in the power of solidarity,” Suttmann said in a statement. “Together, we and our allies will push for more arts investment in NYC so that audiences will continue to see our great city as the cultural capital of the world. Musicians provide the soundtrack to New York City and we will always fight to ensure that they’re paid the wages and benefits they deserve.”
In addition to Suttmann, the union also elected Karen Fisher as financial vice president and Harvey Mars as recording vice president.
The executive board will include Deborah Assael, Andrew Bove, Bud Burridge, Cutler, Julia DeRosa, Diva Goodfriend-Koven, Sarah Haines, Martha Hyde and Morris Kainuma. The trial board will comprise Janet Axelrod, Jen Herman, Aaron Korn, Mary Ann McSweeney, Warren Odze, Allison Seidner, Sue Williams, Dan Willis and Chad Yarbrough.
The newly elected delegates to the AFM convention are Burridge, Fisher, Goodfriend-Koven, Hyde and Mars; Hyde was also chosen as the delegate to the New York State AFL-CIO.
Correction: An earlier version misspelled Robert Suttmann. This has been corrected.
