As those of us who’ve covered the years-long turmoil at the Seattle

As those of us who’ve covered the years-long turmoil at the Seattle Symphony Orchestra well know, the SSO musicians are generally not shy in speaking their minds to the press about management. Which makes it all the more remarkable that we’ve heard pretty much nothing from them about Susan Hutchison.Hutchison, of course, is the head of the SSO’s Board of Directors. Which means the SSO players are perhaps the ones in the best position to opine about her purported ability to “bring people together to solve complex issues.” But they’ve remained mum so far. It may be no coincidence that sensitive contract negotiations have been going on at the same time between the musicians and management.Well, now it looks like contract negotiations are effectively going to be going on until after the election. The SSO and its players announced that the collective bargaining agreement scheduled to expire today has been extended until the end of the year. During that time, the sides will continue to talk. (This is one complex issue that is apparently requiring more time to solve.) The musicians have also agreed to donate their services to a 25th Anniversary Concert for Maestro Gerard Schwarz.As for putting their money where their mouths aren’t, the latest donation figures show that only one person identified as working for SSO has contributed to Hutchison’s campaign for King County Executive: Schwarz himself.