It's strange how so many musically inclined people seem to be missing the fact that it is an orchestra we are talking about. You can't just send 20% away to get visas one day, another 20% the next and so on. And of course an orchestra is a business. They look at the projected costs and return on playing at one set of theatres and compare them with the equivalent figures for elsewhere. Add in the fact that the visa trip to London would also cost them a least one and possibly several days of not earning any income (or equivalent rehearsal time) and so on and so forth, and they've come to the conclusion that visiting the US under the current procedures is uneconomic. That's not saying the processes are right or wrong, efficient or inefficient: its just book-keeping.

I heard that they asked if there was any way the US consulate could send 1 person up to where they were, rather than send 100 down to where he/she was but apparently the consulate considered that was out of the question.