Though the worst of the downpours have retreated for now, the sky is hardly Stanford blue for classical musicians in the UK. Recently, there has been retaliation to the difficulties imposed by the toxic cocktail of inflation, Brexit, COVID aftershocks and funding cuts to institutions: yesterday, the Royal Opera House orchestra voted overwhelmingly in favor of a strike after pay cuts made during the pandemic coincided with the current cost of living crisis to leave orchestra members 23 percent worse off (in real terms) than they were three years ago. After public indignation, the BBC Singers have been welcomed back into the fold at this summer’s flagship BBC Proms, after being threatened with closure months before. Talks between the BBC orchestras and the Musicians’ Union are ongoing towards finding a sustainable future. New BBC Radio 3 controller Sam Jackson this week talked of hopes for the “glory years” for classical music, though such confidence has generally been in short supply lately, as the ground we stand on turns, in a moment, to mush.
Much of the focus of recent media coverage on these circumstances has been on big institutions, creating a kind of reputational shrinkflation, where the social standing of an ensemble rises (“We love our ENO!”) as their creative footprint becomes slimmer and fainter. One wonders how many players will be left in, say, the BBC Concert Orchestra, before somebody important declares, rightly, that it’s one of our many national treasures.
But what of the smaller institutions, or the individuals working across multiple organizations: the ones who might actually close (like Psappha), or, like the third of UK musicians who considered leaving the profession in 2020, are having similar nagging thoughts this time around? I spoke to a cross-section of those away from the spotlight.
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