You bought what?
BBC Music Magazine reports on the Belgian Beethoven Academie Orchestra, which put itself up for sale on e-Bay: “If the Beethoven Academie closes, Belgium will lose one of its very few symphony orchestras – a move the Belgian musical world can ill afford.”
Current bidding is up to 8,000 EUR, a bit much for me unfortunately, but it made me wonder what you’d get when you do buy the orchestra. Does the winning bidder assume ownership of the entire orchestra? Does the winner get the have the orchestra play on their birthday? Or does she or he become artistic director, executive director, or chairman of the board?
Maybe it’s somewhat like a sponsorship deal. The orchestra will be renamed the Fill-in-the-Name Orchestra; your picture is on the cover of the program notes; you get box seats for all performances; and any other benefits you can dream up.
Companies might be interested, especially broadcast media companies. If a company decides to buy the orchestra, maybe they can ensure some lucrative media contracts: I can see a radio station benefiting from exclusive broadcast rights. And don’t forget the publicity!
Hopefully this orchestra will find their musical Roman Abramovich. There are a couple of days left, what are you waiting for? If you don’t have the cash, you can always just sign their petition.
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