Who sits where – it sounds like a question for the stage plan. At the Berlin Philharmonic, it became one that scuppered three concerts with Iván Fischer. Conductor and orchestra could not agree on a seating arrangement for Gustav Mahler’s Fifth Symphony; Andrés Orozco-Estrada took over the dates from 5 to 7 November 2026. The immediate issue is specific: the double basses. The implications reach further – to the question of who has authority over an orchestra when their ideas diverge.
A seating plan is not a neutral picture
According to the Philharmonic, the double basses stood centrally behind the woodwind for Fischer’s performance of Mahler’s First Symphony in 2022. The conductor wanted to repeat this arrangement for the new series of performances; the orchestra opposed it. The previous arrangement, it said, had not proved successful: the Philharmonie has no rear walls that could carry the sound from that position into the auditorium. Visual contact between the sections had also been impaired.
In the publicly accessible part of an interview with VAN Magazin, Fischer describes his preferred basic arrangement: the basses stand in the centre behind the woodwind, with the brass to either side. He explains this in terms of his vision of the sound for the symphonic repertoire. The interview is not freely available in full; his position can therefore only be reported here to the extent that it is explained in the accessible section.
Hearing and being heard
Placement does not just change what the audience hears. Musicians need to be able to see and hear one another: a phrase that passes from the first to the second violins needs not only a cue from the conductor, but also audible and visual contact between the sections. When instruments sit in different positions, distances, sound paths and potential sightlines change. A block of basses behind the woodwind may promise a different balance for a conductor; for the players, it may also make communication harder.
The fact that the players themselves affect sound on stage is measurable. A study in five concert and performance spaces found that an occupied platform alters direct and reflected sound differently from an empty stage or one containing only chairs and music stands. But this yields no universal formula for the ‘right’ arrangement – still less a verdict based on measurements of the Berliner Philharmonie. Acoustics depend on the space, the repertoire and the way musicians play together; what looks plausible on paper has to prove itself in rehearsal.
Who gets to decide?
The Philharmonic initially answers this question unequivocally on its website: the conductor determines the arrangement. At the same time, it acknowledges that traditions apply and that changes are often discussed with the orchestra’s elected committee. The current dispute exposes the tension between these two statements. A guest conductor brings a personal idea of the sound; an orchestra, in turn, is not a neutral instrument that accepts every arrangement without drawing on its own experience.
This is not merely a question of authority. The musicians experience the consequences of an arrangement directly: they have to hear one another, coordinate entries and help shape the sound in the auditorium. The orchestra points to its experience with the earlier arrangement and to the conditions in its home venue. Fischer holds to a particular conception of the sound. The publicly available information explains the disagreement but does not resolve it: no independent account of the discussions or direct statement from Fischer on this specific decision is available here.
Tradition, experiment, compromise
Orchestras have not always sat in a single, unchanging formation. Among the strings, for example, there is the so-called German arrangement, in which the first and second violins face one another, and variants in which they play side by side. Such arrangements can bring out the dialogue between parts with differing clarity. Basses and horns, too, change position according to tradition and musical intention. Seating is thus part of interpretation – but no substitute for it.
The Berlin case shows how closely artistic freedom and collective practice are intertwined. A conductor can propose an arrangement; it does not automatically follow that an orchestra will accept it. Conversely, the familiar arrangement cannot be considered the only sensible option for every work. Between these two positions lies rehearsal: the place where an idea of sound can be tested against real ears, instruments and spatial conditions. In Berlin, no shared solution was reached this time. The change on the podium is therefore also an unusually clear example of how the question ‘Who sits where?’ is ultimately a question of how an orchestra can make decisions together.
Original reviewed by the editors · 4 November 2026
