A game-changer at the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics

After two years of postponed auditions for vacant seats, both orchestras rolled out their new members yesterday, and nothing will ever be the same.

The Berlin Phil made most play of its new principal viola, its first Chinese musician. Diyang Mei is 27, an ARD winner who became principal at the Munich Phil.

That orchestra is really sorry to see him go – and not necessarily for the obvious reasons. Berlin has just shown that it can entice top talent from any band in Germany and there’s nothing Munich can do about it. There will be bruised egos on the Isar this morning.

Berlin’s other four hires are drawn, with one exception, from its Karajan Academy. That sends out another loud message: this orchestra grows its own.

As for the Vienna Philharmonic, it now has four American musicians as candidate members.Who would ever have imagined that? The most significant is the US Korean Hannah Cho, the first Asian in an orchestra that has rigidly resisted certain races and, to some extent, still does. But Hannah is a ray of light.

The campaigner William Osborne, who has detailed the Vienna Phil’s predujices over more than two decades, acclaims it as a new dawn. ‘Given the immense influence of the VPO, this is a happy day for classical music and a sign the orchestra has truly changed. Bravo VPO!,’ he exclaims.

Only one of Vienna’s new hires is homegrown. Nothing stays the same.