The Dallas Symphony Orchestra is selling NFTs. It’s the orchestra’s first foray into the blockchain-based art market. The digital offering commemorates a concert in May with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra of New York.

DSO Music Director Fabio Luisi led both orchestras in a performance of Mahler’s First Symphony. Held at the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, the concert was the first time many of the New York musicians had performed for a live audience since the shutdown. The DSO was one of the first and only orchestras to perform repeatedly during the pandemic, while observing strict COVID protocols.

NFT buyers can choose from three different tiers. The cheapest, at $100, includes concert audio and photos. The most expensive includes tickets to a reunion concert next year –  PLUS airfare, a hotel stay and dinner with the artists. The opening bid is $50,000.

The NFTs will be available for sale on Rarible — a crypto-art marketplace.

Proceeds go to the musicians of the Met — which still isn’t regularly performing

Below, the DSO’s press release.

BRINGING AN HISTORIC MUSICAL COLLABORATION TO THE BLOCKCHAIN: DALLAS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ANNOUNCES NFT OF COLLABORATION WITH MUSICIANS OF THE METROPOLITAN OPERA ORCHESTRA

A THREE-TIERED OFFERING INCLUDING MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES OF CONCERT AND EVENTS FROM MAY 2021, WHEN DSO MUSIC DIRECTOR, FABIO LUISI, LED COMBINED ENSEMBLES IN MAHLER’S FIRST SYMPHONY

ALL NFT PROCEEDS DIRECTLY BENEFIT THE MET ORCHESTRA MUSICIANS

DALLAS, TX (July 28, 2021) – Today, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra has released a three-tiered offering on the blockchain that commemorates the historic concerts—“one of the most dramatic musical coups of the pandemic,” according to the New York Times.—which took place at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas in early May 2021, when DSO Music Director Fabio Luisi led the combined forces of the DSO and Members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in an emotional concert performance of Mahler’s First Symphony for a live in-person audience . The NFT will go on sale on July 28. The offerings will be “minted” and available for sale on Rarible’s website at rarible.com/dallassymphony. The sale will be transacted using the cryptocurrency Ethereum, available on various cryptocurrency exchanges. Rarible is a top-ranked, community-centric marketplace for NFTs. Launched in 2020 by Alexei Falin and Alex Salnikov, Rarible offers a platform to artists and collectors looking to create, collect and trade digital collectibles.

“The collaboration with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra marks a significant milestone in our journey to take NFTs mainstream and to reach new audiences,” said Alex Salnikov, Head of Product & Co-founder of Rarible. “Like so many, the musicians of the MET Opera Orchestra were affected by the shut-down. This NFT is a true testament to the value NFTs can generate for artists and creators by creating new streams of revenue.”
The three-tiered NFT offering includes the following with proceeds of the sale going to the musicians of the Metropolitan Opera.

1. Audio of the final movement of Mahler’s First Symphony and exclusive photos of the musicians and the performances. 25 available at $100
2. Video of 1st movement, interview with DSO Music Director Fabio Luisi, a ticket to the reunion concert featuring collaborative chamber music in New York City in early 2022. 15 Available at $1000
3. Video of the full concert, behind-the scenes footage including rehearsal footage, interviews and features. Plus the NFT buyer VIP experience at the reunion concert including dinner with the artists, roundtrip airfare from another U.S. City and two nights of hotel. Opening bid: $50,000

This NFT offering is the next chapter in the historic collaboration between the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and musicians of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. In May2021, musicians of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra invited 50 musicians of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra to Dallas for a joint performance of Mahler’s First Symphony led by DSO Music Director Fabio Luisi. It would be the first time many of the non-DSO musicians had the opportunity to perform to a live audience since the COVID-19 shutdown in March 2020, and it would be one of the largest orchestras to perform in over a year. The DSO was able to raise the money to bring the musicians to town, pay them a week’s salary, and present a series of master classes and chamber music performances as well.

The New York Times called the concert “One of the most dramatic musical coups of the pandemic.” …It was a reunion with Fabio Luisi, who was the Met’s principal conductor for more than five years and is now the music director in Dallas. The filmed result is fresh, vivid andcumulatively quite moving.”
“During my time with the Metropolitan Opera, I became close to many of the members of the orchestra. It is devastating that these incredible musicians have not had an opportunity to perform together in over a year. Sadly, this is the case for many musicians around the country, and many have been affected so greatly by this reduction of income,” said Luisi. “I urged the DSO to find a way to gather musicians together to make music in a way we have not heard in more than a year as a symbol of solidarity.”
“Our time with the Met Opera Orchestra Musicians was inspiring, emotional and full of memories that we all will hold dear for a very long time,” said DSO Ross Perot President & CEO Kim Noltemy. “It was our honor to have welcomed our colleagues to Dallas and into our home for this historic concert.”

ABOUT RARIBLE

Rarible is a top-ranked, community-centric marketplace for NFTs. Launched in 2020 by Alexei Falin and Alex Salnikov, Rarible offers a platform to artists and collectors looking to create, collect and trade digital collectibles. Rarible’s mission is to evolve into a fully Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), where the power of decision-making and organization is in the control of active platform users. By giving creators and collectors the opportunity to design platform ideas and vote on platform upgrades, Rarible aims to become a public platform, responsive to its users. Since its inception in 2020, Rarible has grown rapidly and has become one of the most well-known and highly ranked NFT projects in the market, now backed by Venrock and CoinFund. For more information, please visit www.rarible.com and follow on Twitter at @rariblecom and Instagram at @rariblecom.

ABOUT THE DALLAS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra, under the leadership of Music Director Fabio Luisi, presents world-class orchestral music at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, one of the world’s top-rated concert halls. As the largest performing arts organization in the Southwest, the DSO is committed to inspiring
the broadest possible audience with distinctive classical programs, inventive pops concerts and innovative multi-media presentations. In fulfilling its commitment to the community, the orchestra reaches more than 243,000 adults and children annually through performances, educational programs and community outreach initiatives.
During the pandemic, the Dallas Symphony was one of a few major U.S. orchestras to present socially distanced concerts with live audiences throughout the 2020/21 Season. Furthermore, the orchestra has offered more than 200 outdoor chamber concerts in neighborhoods throughout the Metroplex since the summer. The DSO continued online music lessons to more than 200 students as part of its Young Strings and Young Musicians programs and increased its online dissemination of concerts through a newly designed website and on social media.
The DSO has a tradition dating back to 1900 and is a cornerstone of the unique, 118-acre Arts District in Downtown Dallas that is home to multiple performing arts venues, museums and parks – the largest district of its kind in the nation. The DSO is supported, in part, by funds from the Office of Arts & Culture, City of Dallas.

ABOUT THE MUSICIANS OF THE METROPOLITAN OPERA ORCHESTRA

Thrilling audiences with more than 200 performances each season, the MET Orchestra is one of the world’s great performing ensembles, both on stage and in the opera pit. Since its founding in 1883, the MET Orchestra’s performances have encompassed not only the entire opera repertoire, but symphonic and chamber programs at Carnegie Hall, international tours, and countless musician activities outside of the Metropolitan Opera House. The MET Orchestra has grown in the past four decades into an ensemble noted by singers, critics, conductors, and audiences as one of today’s most stylistically versatile and musically satisfying orchestras.
MET Orchestra Musicians are chosen through a rigorous blind audition process. Auditions routinely draw upwards of two hundred applicants for a single position, due to the quality and status of the MET Orchestra and the particular audition procedures that make the MET Orchestra’s auditions arguably the fairest in the industry. MET Orchestra Musicians were educated at the finest colleges and conservatories around the country and world, from the Conservatoire de Paris to Harvard University, Oberlin College to The Juilliard School.
Members of the MET Orchestra are much sought-after teachers, comprising large portions of the music faculties of all the major universities and conservatories in the New York metropolitan area. Former students of MET Orchestra Musicians can be found in virtually every performing arts organization in the country. In addition, a number of MET Orchestra Musicians dedicate time to working with younger students, both privately and by assuming leading roles in youth orchestras and pre-college programs.
Individual members of the orchestra have traveled to all corners of the Earth, in equal parts performing and engaging underserved audiences. MET Orchestra Musicians have recently performed fundraisers for local public schools, taught in Haiti and elsewhere in Central America, and brought South African students to New York for intensive study. In addition, MET Orchestra Musicians are coaches and teachers at some of the world’s leading summer music festivals, including the Verbier Festival, where the coaching faculty has been comprised of MET Orchestra Musicians since its founding in 2000.
The MET Orchestra Musicians are dedicated to providing their fans with a more beautiful and immersive experience of opera, in equal parts engaging audiences in behind-the-scenes activities and opening an unprecedented channel of communication between performer and listener. METOrchestraMusicians.org #METOrchestraMusicians