Conducting In The Highest City On Earth (And Dodging Dynamite)

David Handel has been rebuilding the Bolivian national Orchestra. He has “increased the number of performances to 50 a year from 12, recorded the group for the first time, enlarged the symphony to 65 musicians from 40, raised salaries and increased the yearly budget to $1 million from $100,000. He also has lowered ticket prices for students and raised the number of season ticket holders to 1,000 from none. Finally, he found the group its first-ever home in a one-time vaudeville theater and has taken the symphony to locales where it never had performed.” Now if only the bombs would stop going off outside the concert hall…