What's the future for UK orchestras post-lockdown?
Two stories in the press over the past 24 hours point to a potentially uncertain future for some
Last updated 9th Jun 2020
Last week, members of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra returned to Abbey Road Studios for a socially-distanced recording session. It was an uplifting sight to see (pictured above). And over the past 24 hours two stories appear in the UK press highlighting the plight of some of the country’s best-loved orchestras, venues and cultural organisations as they grapple with the challenges of mounting live performances for socially-distanced audiences.
One quote in The Guardian written by Charlotte Higgins from the Wigmore Hall’s artistic director John Gilhooly, paints a grim picture.
“There is huge anxiety and hardship. Orchestras could be going to the wall in the next 12 weeks.”
Kathryn McDowell from the London Symphony Orchestra hints at a different concert experience with the possibility of hour-long concerts played twice in one evening for different audiences. English National Opera is planning on drive-through performances of Puccini’s La Boheme.
Read more in Charlotte Higgin’s article ‘Are we just going to let classical music die?’ on the Guardian website.
Elsewhere in the press, Neil Fisher from The Times reports on Grange Park Opera new digital season of performances one of which has been filmed at the opera house’s ‘Theatre in the Woods’ with a socially-distanced orchestra.
“Concert halls may have the infrastructure, and the BBC the players, but their very location in city centres works against them.
“How are people going to get to a theatre in the middle of London?” asks Brabbins, thinking of the Coliseum, the home of English National Opera (ENO). Which is why the Theatre in the Woods may present at least an interim solution. There are no public foyers for dangerous mingling, there are ample car-parking spaces and it’s only about an hour’s drive from central London.”
Read more in Neil Fisher’s article 'Grange Park Opera: a classical supergroup united under lockdown — could this be the future?' on The Times website.
Grange Park Opera’s new digital season started last week with a special ribbon-cutting event by Joanna Lumley, introducing a series of special events available to watch via the GPO website. It's one of a slew of digital substitutions being mounted by summer arts festival this month.
Yesterday, the 72 year old Aldeburgh Festival launched its Celebration of Aldeburgh Festivals running from 12 to 28 June on TV, radio and online.
And today, the Swiss classical music festival in Verbier announced its what it would performances it would be sharing from its archive via classical music TV streaming service Medici TV and Swiss radio station Espace.
Last weekend Verbier Festival regular violinist Daniel Hope appeared in Scala Radio’s ‘Classical Music In and After Lockdown’ commenting on what he thinks the future holds for classical music live performance.
Hope said:
“We also have to re-examine this idea that classical music is always programmed two or three years in advance. That's something that has happened for the last 50/60 years.
But if this pandemic has shown us anything, it's that the spontaneous and the small-scale, the chamber music small venues, small ensembles have an enormous chance. And if we're being honest, until this happened that was completely other way around.
People wanted bigger halls, bigger experiences, bigger orchestras. And I think certainly for the time being the smaller experience is going to be the one that maintains and keeps classical music alive.”
Listen to Scala Radio Presents: Classical Music In and After Lockdown via the Scala Radio website and app, available until Saturday 8 June 2020.