Munich plans digital concert hall to rival Berlin’s
UncategorizedThe SPD group on Munich city council want to fund a digital concert hall for the Munich Philharmonic, just like the one at the Berlin Phil.
They say is will help the orchestra reach younger audiences.
Oh, yeah?
The cost of the site is huge and, in almost seven years of operation, the Berlin Phil has managed to attract 20,000 paying subscribers.
Huh! Instead of wasting money on that (the BPO site is still heavily in the red and without the sponsorship of Deutsche Bank would have gone under ages ago), the Munich politicians should finally get their act together on funding a new hall in the City. The Philharmonie is an accoustic disgrace and the Herkulessaal too small and uneconomic for large-scale Projects.
Another source (http://www.musicalopinion.com/berliner.html) suggests the current subscriber count of DCH is 14,000 and the total number of registered users is 280,000.
Seems a shame the DCH subscriber numbers are that low. I’ve been more than happy with my subscription over the last few years and would thoroughly recommend it. Different experience of course to hearing them live, but for less than the cost of a couple of top price RFH tickets/decent meal/travel etc, you have access to their whole Philharmonie season, a few out of town concerts and the ever increasing archive. Excellent production values to my mind and the playing is usually quite good too!
I’ve been very pleased with the DCH and hope that it isn’t doing as poorly as you suggest. (The fact that other orchestras seek to emulate it might be evidence to the contrary.)
I’ll likely never make it to Berlin, and DCH makes it possible for me to see the BPO perform, not only live (they stream individual performances) but also recent archived performances (like BPO’s very worthwhile Sibelius cycle from ~2010), and even classic footage (like some of Karajan’s Beethoven performances). DCH also features a small selection of films about the BPO, as well as interviews with Simon Rattle, guest conductors, and guest performers (e.g., Alisa Weilerstein or Sol Gabetta).
I am not a full-year subscriber–that’s far beyond my time and monetary budget–but DCH offers a week-long subscription that makes for a great treat from time to time. These short term subscriptions are a great way to introduce yourself to the DCH. Now and then, when my wife and kids are away, I’ll make a date to “attend” a BPO concert virtually–it’s a fun event and it keeps me out of trouble!
The web site is good, the mobile apps are very good and getting better. What’s more, they’ve considerably dropped their subscription fees when purchased via iTunes. A week, which was once about $10, is now about $5.
I highly recommend classical fans give DCH a spin.
This reminds me of the well-known statement that, if the world ends, you want to be living in Munich, because it will happen there 3 years later.
The DCH is absolutely fantastic. I’m sure that, from a technical viewpoint, the Munich Philharmonic can build a website with the same high quality. What I don’t know (because I’ve never heard them) is whether they play as outstandingly well.
Munich should think this through better. Gasteig looks (and sounds) horrible. Better build a decent concert hall first. Then think about filming it.