The cash-strapped Baltimore Symphony Orchestra locked out its musicians on Monday, as it sought to pressure the players into agr eeing to a new contract with fewer paid weeks of work.

“Due to the Baltimore Symphony’s urgent need to address longstanding financial issues and change its business model, the B.S.O. has made this extremely difficult decision,” Peter Kjome, the orchestra’s president and chief executive officer, said in a statement.

The orchestra’s management has been trying to get the musicians to agree to a new contract that would cut their number of paid weeks of work to 40, from the current 52. Orchestra leaders have said that such a cut is needed to keep the orchestra afloat after years of deficits and difficulty raising money in Baltimore, a struggling city.

This spring, Maryland state lawmakers approved $3.2 million in aid to help the troubled orchestra get through the next two years, but Gov. Larry Hogan has indicated that he will “probably not” release the money, The Baltimore Sun reported. That complicated the orchestra’s plans to take out a short-term loan until the state aid materialized. A few weeks ago, the orchestra’s management abruptly canceled a series of summer concerts that it had announced earlier in the spring.