BERLIN’S COUP

Franz Xaver Ohnesorg was controversial as the head of Carnegie Hall. But news he’s going to run the Berlin Philharmonic is being greeted by the Germans as a coup.  He was first considered for the job with Berlin’s leading orchestra in 1996, but withdrew because the Berlin Senate’s regulations seemed too restrictive. He believes that cultural institutions need to be managed as business enterprises, as “cultural service providers.” – Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung