Things weren’t looking very promising back in 1985, when Ellis Finger, director of the Williams Center for the Arts at Lafayette College, phoned the management of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra to ask if the ensemble might like to perform there. «Can I get back to you on that?» was the response, which in the entertainment world is usually code for «forget about it.»
Yet someone did call back, with a surprising counteroffer.
«How would Lafayette feel about hosting Orpheus three times a year?,» the caller asked. Orpheus, it turns out, was just establishing Carnegie Hall as a performance venue and Deutsche Grammophon as a recording label, and was considering Lafayette College as a nearby «run out»venue to refine its performances.
«I had made the call just to see what would be involved in having them come out and play. I had no idea they were ready to set up shop in a few sites not far from New York City,» Finger says. «It was an accidental phone call that made all the difference in the world.»
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