Maestro hires testing company to keep his orchestra at work

Maestro hires testing company to keep his orchestra at work

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norman lebrecht

September 10, 2020

The German conductor Marcus Bosch has brought in a testing company to submit his players to daily checks and keep them giving concerts more or less as normal through the season.

The 70 musicians of the Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock will not be distanced on stage, nor will they give short measure. The first concert consists of the Bruch violin concerto and Mahler’s fourth symphony.

The audience, however, will be reduced from 570 to 140.

Whatever, it’s a step forward.

 

Comments

  • anon says:

    It’s not the players that are the vectors of contamination, it’s the audience.

    I’ve never been to a concert where the orchestra goes into fits of cough between movements.

  • commonsense says:

    Will the family members and social network of the musicians be tested at least once a week? What about transmission to audience members? What is the process of making tickets available? 140 even if mistaken, gives an air of elitism and being out of touch in the midst of a pandemic. I can see better usage of these tests for the public. How is this a “step forward?”

  • V. Lind says:

    What is a “testing company?” Does it carry a built-in lab? Are all the musicians under the age that is considered “at risk”?

    I know Germans are more efficient, and their politicians more honest (and less stupid), but this sounds like the test version of a placebo.

    Is this available for schools and universities? For airports?

    • Bill says:

      With sufficient money, one can buy a rapid test processing machine and consumables, and offer testing services. There are certainly people doing this in the US, so the Hamptons crowd can have unmasked parties. Probably an antigen test, which isn’t as accurate as the RT-PCR testing gold standard, but in some cases that can be finessed. In the US, you probably need to have a licensed medical professional on staff.

      • Catherine says:

        It’s a cooperation with Centogene, the testing firm based in Rostock, they are the same company that, for instance runs the testing center at Frankfurt International Airport including all the mandatory tests for travelers from risk areas. It is a PCR test. None of this information is hard to find.

    • Peter says:

      yes, yes, and yes.

  • Novagerio says:

    Mahler 4th with that band…good luck…

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