From opera and elitism to education and diversity, Richard Morrison discusses the wide-ranging problems facing the music sector in the UK and offers some solutions.
For those involved in the UK’s classical music scene, King Charles’s coronation last May must have seemed heartwarming and surreal. Heartwarming because it displayed to the world so much that is outstanding in our musical life: the superbly trained children and adults of the choirs directed by Andrew Nethsingha; the hand-picked orchestra ebulliently conducted by Antonio Pappano; and no fewer than 12 new pieces of music, specially commissioned by a monarch who clearly wanted to showcase a rich mix of living British composers.
And surreal because that glorious parade happened at a time when Britain’s classical music life seemed more imperilled than at any point since the Second World War. Nearly a year on, it still does.It has been hit by a perfect storm. The mass closure of venues during the pandemic, followed by a prolonged cost of living crisis, has driven many music organisations and individual musicians close to bankruptcy. Crass, ill-considered cuts by those responsible for funding music — from quangos to universities — add to the insecurity...Keep reading on The Times.
For those involved in the UK’s classical music scene, King Charles’s coronation last May must have seemed heartwarming and surreal. Heartwarming because it displayed to the world so much that is outstanding in our musical life: the superbly trained children and adults of the choirs directed by Andrew Nethsingha; the hand-picked orchestra ebulliently conducted by Antonio Pappano; and no fewer than 12 new pieces of music, specially commissioned by a monarch who clearly wanted to showcase a rich mix of living British composers.
And surreal because that glorious parade happened at a time when Britain’s classical music life seemed more imperilled than at any point since the Second World War. Nearly a year on, it still does.It has been hit by a perfect storm. The mass closure of venues during the pandemic, followed by a prolonged cost of living crisis, has driven many music organisations and individual musicians close to bankruptcy. Crass, ill-considered cuts by those responsible for funding music — from quangos to universities — add to the insecurity...Keep reading on The Times.