FL: Why was your concert a one off?

FZ: Well, the cost of doing that kind of event is so exhorbitant that I don't think there is another orchestra in the world that is prepared to go through the expense of mounting a concert like that. The rehearsal time required to play that music is so much more than an orchestra would ordinarily spend on a concert.

The way orchestras work is like this: Orchestras like to play stuff that is easy for them. They play standard repertoire not because the audience really craves for it but because it's the easiest way for them to look good when they're on the stage. If you studied the violin for a number of years, you're going to learn all that eighteenth, nineteenth century literature and you already know the parts by the time you get into the orchestra, so it's very easy for the orchestra to sound like they know what they re doing if they're always playing the same Mahler, the same Beethoven, the same Mozart, and on and on. And when you have guest conductors coming in how long do you think they rehearse the orchestra? (read more)