Fighting Windmills

The doors of the Berlin Philharmonic closed to the public on March 11, 2020. They won’t open again this season, making the coronavirus closure the Berlin Philharmonic’s longest break in its 138-year history. Instead of the musicians, it’s the construction workers who now have the run of the house, with improvements taking place on the elevators, air conditioning, and seating. These projects, usually crammed into the summer break, now have priority.Of course, Berlin Philharmonic artistic director Andrea Zietzschmann has also had plenty to do during the closure. She took the reins of the organization in September 2017, and now manages both the 130-person orchestra and the iconic Philharmonie concert hall, which hosts roughly 650 concerts per year. Running the orchestra through the COVID-19 crisis has made her feel like Don Quixote: “It’s a terrible experience: No matter how hard you work, your progress is always sluggish,” she said. “It feels like fighting windmills.”