Fungibility

Mina Fisher in the Star Tribune : "This week Minnesota Orchestra CEO Michael Henson told the New York Times: “When we get up and running again … I’m sure we will get an astonishing bunch of individuals who will want to perform and live in this great city.' In other words, our great musicians and Osmo Vänskä are fungible — easily exchangeable." She goes on to argue that the Minnesota players are anything but fungible — that each departure changes the "sonic chemistry" of the ensemble. She might have added that CEOs can come and go without altering the sound of an orchestra in the slightest. But in Minnesota we seem to have a radically topsy-turvy situation where the management views itself as indispensable and the musicians as disposable. Perhaps, on Nov. 2 and 3, Michael Henson and the board of the Minnesota Orchestra Association can appear onstage at Carnegie Hall, and we can all gather to hear the ineffably sublime music they make.