This clip was taken after a performance with the BBC Concert Orchestra on the 10th of March: I decided not to share on the day, as it was the same week that the BBC announced its shocking plans to close the BBC Singers - the UK’s only full time professional choir.
The news astounded me, and was deeply concerning to think that the organisation which gives us a platform for our work would undermine and undervalue its own musicians in such a way to make such a harmful decision. I have many very strong personal memories with the BBC Singers - marked by exciting repertoire choices, their flexibility, work-ethic, musical level, and kindness. Thinking about all this I was feeling discouraged and disturbed by the news, on the day of this upcoming performance with BBCCO.
And yet, I was immediately struck by the sheer energy that came from the musicians in the orchestra, and the appreciation and love that came from the audience. If the BBC truly thinks that its singers, players and organisations are so dispensable, the truth is that it is not difficult to prove the contrary. It is abundantly clear that the general public and our audiences - whether they are familiar or completely unfamiliar with classical music - need, love, and live it. By making the decisions the BBC has recently made, it is only making the UK’s culture a poorer place for all.
What I would like to add is that in spite of my disapproval of this absurd decision, I adamantly refuse to give up on the musical life and culture of the UK. I stand in support of and solidarity with my colleagues, and yet the UK is still my home, it is a huge part of my identity, and as such I have a loyalty and affection towards it.
Bitterness, cynicism and resentment are the natural and inevitable consequences for UK musicians facing the numerous cuts, Brexit, and poor decision making that seems to be never ending. But it is still home to tens of thousands of brilliant and passionate professionals, amateurs, and listeners - deliberately ignoring and even sabotaging them, is not a viable future planning scheme, it is cultural destruction.
My deep fear is that we are fighting in a cultural war of attrition. If the executives and our representatives behind these decisions do not care about our sector, then continuous reductions only serve to demoralise - and to make the public, and even musicians themselves, begin to believe that it is not worth caring about.
Strong culture is built upon a policy of development, consideration, and dignity. To ‘give up’ on certain vital areas of cultural life to save a comparatively small budget, because the individual deciding does not themselves care, demonstrates none of these qualities. And it is certainly not representative of the musical life of the UK. The irony, is that music-making and appreciation, whether it be in schools, in churches, in our large halls or studios, demonstrates and requires all of these qualities - as a first principle.
Go to a performance, and you will see how many care, and what value, joy, and breadth of humanity and beauty there is to be found. Music is for everyone. And music doesn’t lie.