New York City tenant laws allow musicians to practice their chosen instrument from the morning until 10 pm in the evening. Sometimes the musician's union is called to help their members enforce their right to practice at home.
It costs more to produce an orchestra concert than can be made back from ticket sales, even selling out. So donors are always critical to orchestras trying to make up that difference.
The Amazon Original series is based on the 2005 memoir Mozart in the Jungle, Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music, written by freelance oboist Blair Tindall. The memoir followed her experience in New York as a musician from 1980-1990. Tindall thinly veiled names of real persons involved, and reportedly burned many bridges in her tell-all book.
Orchestras traveling on tour will often store instruments in giant shipping containers which they pack and ship themselves. Currently, musicians who travel must face the concern that an overzealous customs agent will destroy on sight an antique bow or instrument because it contains banned items, such as ivory.
In a study from the 1990's, a psychology professor at Harvard University found that on average orchestral musicians' job satisfaction ranked slightly below that of federal prison guards.