We Bought an Orchestra

Classical music has always relied on patronage—as Jeffrey Arlo Brown notes, musicians were often little more than “glorified servants” in European courts. (It could be a perilous occupation; Mark Smeaton, for instance, ultimately lost his head.) Still, for much of history, it was primarily talent that determined a musician’s rise. That changed when orchestras became the playthings of the ultra-wealthy, whose egos demand that they insert themselves into the proceedings. Brown’s report on the rise of pay-to-play in classical music is a scathing examination of what happens when money trumps talent.

According to Quasha, the DRO, which has as of now played three concerts, with its fourth later this month, is planning to build its own “state of the art” concert hall for about €2 million. (The temporary Isarphilharmonie in Munich—considered an efficient project—cost €40 million.) When Quasha and I spoke, it was scheduled to break ground near the Funkhaus in the middle of March and open for concerts this September. It would be constructed in the shoebox style and have a kind of skybox, “a glass box that kind of looks into the stage, and where you can open the windows on it and hear everything,” Quasha said.

“We were thinking it could be nice to make that kind of a restaurant-style thing, so people can also go sit up there and eat and watch the concert,” she continued. I asked her if that would distract from the music. “It depends on the food, I think,” she answered. “If it’s like a big steak that you have to focus on and dig into, maybe not. But if it’s light tapas, finger food, little bites, I think then it is easier. Little grilled cheese bites could work so nicely, or chicken nuggets.”