A few weeks ago, the conductor Robert Ames announced he was stepping down as co-artistic director and co-principal conductor of the London Contemporary Orchestra. It was a bit of a shock. Conductors come and go with major orchestras, but Ames, who co-founded the LCO 18 years ago, was synonymous with the group. Deciding to move on from an organization you birthed, developed, and watched fly—beginning in 2008 with programs of Turnage, Saariaho, and Xenakis, and eventually becoming London’s go-to orchestra for artists like Radiohead—is a big step.
Last Wednesday, Ames announced his departure with an op-ed in The Guardian, under the headline “I co-founded an orchestra 18 years ago. Since then, I’ve seen doors close for working-class musicians.” The tone of the piece was striking. I’ve followed Ames from afar for a while, and always had him down as the quintessential London freelancer: young, cool, eclectic, hustling, knackered, and, crucially, someone who probably kept any political conversations within the safe confines of the pub. In discourse around class in our industry, I’d never heard anything from Ames, so to see him trenchantly raising social issues close to my heart was as surprising as it was welcome. The article was received enthusiastically, and for the next few days, my social media was filled with snippets from the piece.
When we talk, Ames is still right at work. He enters our Zoom call with a particularly glamorous backdrop: the front rows of the Palacio Euskalduna in Bilbao, where this evening he’ll conduct with Sigur Rós. (He’s lost count how many Rós concerts he’s conducted on this tour, but it’s in the 90s.)
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