Welcome to Rich Guy Fantasy Camp, where Jeff Bezos and wealthy men like him live in their own worlds
A very wealthy person reveres a certain field for which they have some amateur ability, but not nearly enough to get them to the top shelf on their own. So they pay to play, buying access to an experience that’s normally available only to a tiny rarefied circle.
It’s like those passes that allow you to skip the line at Disney – but if your pockets are deep enough and your imagination broad enough, it applies to the entire world.
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra performing Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 in C Minor with amateur conductor Mandle Cheung. Allan Cabral/Supplied
In late June, wealthy entrepreneur and untrained conductor Mandle Cheung paid roughly $550,000 to lead the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at Roy Thomson Hall in a performance of Mahler’s “Resurrection” symphony. Some of the musicians were unhappy about it and worried that the orchestra’s reputation could be dented by performing a complicated piece of music under an amateur’s baton.
A few weeks later, billionaire Bill Ackman competed in – and was swiftly eliminated from – a professional tennis tournament by partnering with a retired pro who held a wild-card entry.
