When Deborah Borda became the New York Philharmonic’s president and CEO in 2017, “little could Borda have known that, while having made remarkable strides in less than three New York seasons, her role would suddenly be to save the New York Philharmonic, and possibly by her example help to save other American orchestras” during a pandemic when live concerts are not possible, writes Mark Swed in Wednesday’s (4/29) Los Angeles Times. “ ‘We don’t have the information we need to make the right kinds of decisions to look at the way forward. But we’re putting it together. We’ve got to do the best we can to help people out.’… She also knows that it is imperative to be honest about the situation. ‘The next couple of months,’ she confessed, ‘are very unknown. But times of this kind of catastrophe are times for really reimagining what you can do and bringing people along … ‘… Borda does not see a way for programs to be given anywhere this summer… ‘I say to the orchestra … just imagine the day when … you start to play, and then we have a concert.… I think about it all the time and how I’ll cry and get all choked up. It will happen. It will happen.’ ”
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