The Detroit Symphony Orchestra could very well have chosen to spend the last few years hiding under a pile of the Motor City’s ever-present downtown rubble, and hoping that the financial roof wouldn’t fall in. After all, orchestras are in terible shape just about everywhere, and Detroit is hardly a model for the type of forward-looking urban development that orchestras must embrace to make strides in an increasingly diverse entertainment universe. Instead, the DSO took a big, beautiful chance, and invested millions in a newly revitalized concert hall in one of the city’s most blighted neighborhoods. No one yet knows if the plan will succeed, but thank God someone is still trying, says William Littler.