This is a place to grow and develop.'' At the same time, orchestral players have much to lose financially. Anybody coming here is not coming to make money,'' Ms. Uchida said with righteous pride. Ms. Uchida grudgingly envisions a day when it may be necessary to pay to get the right people. The resistance to payment is evidently philosophical rather than financial. There are other factors in that spirit as well, including a deep-seated sense of community, which centers on the dining room, a former barn.
Participants mingle freely at meals.
At dinner, all the participants, even the most senior, take turns waiting on the others. Whatever the reasons, to judge from a recent array of rehearsals and concerts, Marlboro is a model of musical democracy in action. Not only does the repertory reflect the desires of individual performers, necessarily in varying degrees, but the rehearsals also encourage a free and open interchange. Yet however much Marlboro's programming may depend on the personal preferences of participants, the basic repertory has always leaned heavily on the Germanic classics favored by the European founders, particularly Serkin. Ms. Uchida said, speaking as well for Mr. Goode in his absence. ''We overlap so much.