Thursday (3/21) on Huffington Post, Detroit Symphony Music Director Leonard Slatkin writes, “The former mayor has been sent to prison. The city now has an emergency financial manager. Parts of downtown present images that resemble Berlin in 1945. These details are what make the headlines day in, day out. Detroit would seem to be the one place not to be. But the city I know paints quite a different picture for its inhabitants and visitors. My venue is Orchestra Hall, just a scant half-mile away from the Canadian border. … Two years ago a very bitter, public work stoppage took place [at the Detroit Symphony] and a vast majority of cultural commentators wrote it off as yet another coffin in the city’s ever-growing graveyard. … Perhaps what differentiated us from the rest was that we had a plan. … We initiated a radical pricing structure, slashing ticket prices and introducing ‘Soundcard.’ If you are a student, regardless of age, you can buy this for $25 and are entitled to entrance to any concert. … Nearly every subscription program is broadcast via a series of free HD webcasts. … You will keep reading about the blight of the city, another corrupt politician, leadership changes and the like. But I am here to tell you that this is a thriving cultural metropolis. It is a testament to the resilience of Detroiters. It is why the city will overcome its many obstacles.”
Posted March 22, 2013
