“Cultural vandalism”? The BBC abolishes its choir
Once Upon a Time: BBC Choir
Quelle: ddp/CAMERA PRESS/ED/JL/BBC Proms
country without music The venerable BBC is cutting its choir and drastically cutting the budget of its radio orchestras. That has a lot to do with Brexit, which is also making the situation in the country musically more complicated. But it also arouses interest in Europe.
Land without music. That’s what people liked to call Britain polemically, because from a world music perspective, nothing significant happened between Henry Purcell (died 1697) and Benjamin Britten (born 1913) in the Empire, which was growing gigantic due to the colonies. England is a country of choirs, less of orchestras. After all, the BBC has fulfilled its cultural-political work for decades, which is exemplary for many countries.
But just as the aura of the “world’s best” radio station has been fading for a long time, so it fits with the desolate course of the country shaken by Brexit when, in the recent BBC austerity round, those responsible unperturbedly announce that in the 99th year of its existence the already to 20 members reduced BBC Singers as the only professional choir in the UK to be abolished as soon as possible – that is, in a few months. In addition, the budget of the remaining five radio orchestras will be reduced by 20 percent. It is feared that the merger will take place in the near future BBC Symphony with the BBC Concert Orchestra.
If possible, the choir should be silent before the Proms in July, which it has played a significant role in shaping, so that there are no expressions of solidarity there. An online petition for the BBC Singers already has more than 110,000 signatures within a few days, and countless prominent British musicians have expressed their outrage at this “cultural vandalism”.
There is also an open letter from all BBC chief conductors, headed by Sakari Oramu and even signed by Semyon Bychkov. Of course, the management, which has been bloated in recent years and has mostly not attended a single concert by the singers who are now to be wound up, remains almost unscathed.
Foreign countries are watching
For all classical musicians, this attack is another blow to their profession. Brexit has severely restricted the opportunities to host and fill in outside of Britain. The case of a world-famous artist who had to cancel concerts at short notice because he had not received an English performance visa in time has just become public again – it was the pianist Daniil Trifonov, who was traveling with a Russian passport.
Recently, the Arts Council, which is largely responsible for cultural subsidies, announced aggressive cuts that bleed many London institutions dry in favor of the provinces. The future of English National Operaone of only five opera houses nationwide, is open.
Of course, these measures are also observed internationally with interest. In Austria, also due to budget cuts, the ORF radio orchestra, the only one in the country, has just been put on hold. Its future is to be decided on March 23. The WDR director Tom Buhrow (“One will still be allowed to ask”) has already thought in semi-public space: “ARD maintains 16 ensembles – orchestras, big bands, choirs. About 2,000 people, almost all permanent employees. Although they are among the best in their field – we cannot avoid the question here either: Is that what the contributors want?”
You won’t have to wait long before the discussion picks up again in this country.