FROM 24 AUGUST 2020 BIGISSUE.COM | 37CULTURE |
MUSIC
LISTEN TO...
Violinist Nicola Benedetti has had a busy summer:
as well as leading groundbreaking online workshop
series the Virtual Benedetti Sessions – which saw
7,159 participants from 66 countries take part in
string lessons and ensembles – and lobbying the
government (her meeting with Culture Secretary
Oliver Dowden alongside Alison Balsom, Sheku
Kanneh-Mason and Sir Simon Rattle preceded the
£1.5bn rescue package for the arts), she has just
released a sparkling recording of the Elgar concerto. Her collaborators are the
London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski.Classical music’s attempt to restart indoor concerts fell
foul of coronavirus spikes. Now, says Claire Jackson,
any live performances depend on the weatherI
t was all going so well. Two major arts venues were tentatively taking the first
steps to reopen since Covid-19 forced them to close their doors in March. They
were baby steps, but steps nonetheless. Snape Maltings in Suffolk, home to
the Britten-Pears Foundation, announced a short pilot series of concerts to be
held later this month. There would be changes of course: reduced capacity, socially
distanced seating, no intervals, mandatory face coverings, no printed materials.
And the obligatory hand sanitiser stations. London’s Wigmore Hall announced
a similar initiative. Violinist Tasmin Little and tenor Ian Bostridge, scheduled to
perform at Snape, spoke to Nick Robinson on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme
on the day the concerts were unveiled. “We seem to be particularly cautious
in this country,” said Bostridge, mentioning that he’d just returned from giving
live performances in Switzerland. “These concerts will build confidence,” he
added, hopefully.
Unfortunately, confidence in the upper echelons of government was quickly
evaporating. Just a few hours after Bostridge’s radio appearance, Boris Johnson
was back on our screens with another lockdown U-turn. “We’re squeezing the brake
pedal,” he said ruefully (was it ruefully?), announcing that his team had been forcedto rethink easing England’s restrictions
following a spike in virus cases. “We said
that there may have to be last-minute
changes,” wrote Britten-Pears chief
executive Roger Wright on Twitter as he
cancelled the concerts, “we just didn’t
expect them to be so soon. But safety
is always our first consideration... So
sorry for the artists and our audiences.”
Colleagues scrambled to put out revised
press releases and journalists put down
their pens. “We thank everyone for their
kind words and for sharing in our (all
too brief) excitement, and hope to be
able to resume our plans again soon,”
said an official statement.
Several musicians have posted
photographs on social media of
themselves on planes – some en route
to gigs abroad – pointing out the
strange inconsistency of being in the
confined space of a plane for hours
while there remains a blanket ban on all
indoor concerts, no matter how big the
area. While pubs, restaurants, hotels,
hairdressers, cinemas and museums
have all reopened, theatres and concert
halls are not yet permitted to hold
indoor events. As covered in previous
columns, many venues are coming
to the end of their reserves. It was
hoped that some of the late-summer
events might have gone ahead in some
capacity, but the practicalities and
ever-changing rules mean that
cancellations keep on coming.
Against the uncertainty, some
have written off the rest of the year:
producer Cameron Mackintosh recently
announced that Les Misérables, Mary
Poppins, Hamilton and The Phantom of
the Opera will not be returning to
London’s West End before 2021.
When first embarking on a life
in music journalism, an esteemed
editor imparted the following wisdom:
“Musician makes music is not a story.”
Similarly, he might have said “Concert
hall holds concert is not a story.” Today,
in extraordinary circumstances, I hope
he will forgive the exception.
Musicians from Royal Northern
Sinfonia, the orchestra resident at Sage
Gateshead, recently came together
to play for the first time in nearly
five months as part of two special
outdoor performances in Newcastle.
The ensemble is one of the first full
orchestras in the country to perform
in front of a live audience since March.
The concerts took place at Summerhill
Bowling Club, in front of supporters,
local residents and members of
education project In Harmony.
Happily, Snape Maltings has since
also been able to hold some outdoor
events, as has St George’s Bristol. As well
as obsessively following government
updates, organisers must now keep
watch on the weather.@claireiswritingTime to take
things outside
Garden of delights
The RNS orchestra
performed in the grounds
of a bowling clubFROM 24 AUGUST 2020 BIGISSUE.COM | 37CULTURE |
MUSIC
LISTEN TO...
Violinist Nicola Benedetti has had a busy summer:
as well as leading groundbreaking online workshop
series the Virtual Benedetti Sessions – which saw
7,159 participants from 66 countries take part in
string lessons and ensembles – and lobbying the
government (her meeting with Culture Secretary
Oliver Dowden alongside Alison Balsom, Sheku
Kanneh-Mason and Sir Simon Rattle preceded the
£1.5bn rescue package for the arts), she has just
released a sparkling recording of the Elgar concerto. Her collaborators are the
London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski.Classicalmusic’sattempttorestartindoorconcertsfell
foul of coronavirus spikes. Now, says Claire Jackson,
any live performances depend on the weatherI
t was all going so well. Two major arts venues were tentatively taking the first
steps to reopen since Covid-19 forced them to close their doors in March. They
were baby steps, but steps nonetheless. Snape Maltings in Suffolk, home to
the Britten-Pears Foundation, announced a short pilot series of concerts to be
held later this month. There would be changes of course: reduced capacity, socially
distanced seating, no intervals, mandatory face coverings, no printed materials.
And the obligatory hand sanitiser stations. London’s Wigmore Hall announced
a similar initiative. Violinist Tasmin Little and tenor Ian Bostridge, scheduled to
perform at Snape, spoke to Nick Robinson on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme
on the day the concerts were unveiled. “We seem to be particularly cautious
in this country,” said Bostridge, mentioning that he’d just returned from giving
live performances in Switzerland. “These concerts will build confidence,” he
added, hopefully.
Unfortunately, confidence in the upper echelons of government was quickly
evaporating. Just a few hours after Bostridge’s radio appearance, Boris Johnson
was back on our screens with another lockdown U-turn. “We’re squeezing the brake
pedal,” he said ruefully (was it ruefully?), announcing that his team had been forcedto rethink easing England’s restrictions
following a spike in virus cases. “We said
that there may have to be last-minute
changes,” wrote Britten-Pears chief
executive Roger Wright on Twitter as he
cancelled the concerts, “we just didn’t
expect them to be so soon. But safety
is always our first consideration... So
sorry for the artists and our audiences.”
Colleagues scrambled to put out revised
press releases and journalists put down
their pens. “We thank everyone for their
kind words and for sharing in our (all
too brief) excitement, and hope to be
able to resume our plans again soon,”
said an official statement.
Several musicians have posted
photographs on social media of
themselves on planes – some en route
to gigs abroad – pointing out the
strange inconsistency of being in the
confined space of a plane for hours
while there remains a blanket ban on all
indoor concerts, no matter how big the
area. While pubs, restaurants, hotels,
hairdressers, cinemas and museums
have all reopened, theatres and concert
halls are not yet permitted to hold
indoor events. As covered in previous
columns, many venues are coming
to the end of their reserves. It was
hoped that some of the late-summer
events might have gone ahead in some
capacity, but the practicalities and
ever-changing rules mean that
cancellations keep on coming.
Against the uncertainty, some
have writtenoff the rest of the year:
producerCameronMackintoshrecently
announcedthatLesMisérables,Mary
Poppins,Hamilton and The Phantom of
the Opera will not be returning to
London’s West End before 2021.
When first embarking on a life
in music journalism, an esteemed
editor imparted the following wisdom:
“Musician makes music is not a story.”
Similarly, he might have said “Concert
hall holds concert is not a story.” Today,
in extraordinary circumstances, I hope
he will forgive the exception.
Musicians from Royal Northern
Sinfonia, the orchestra resident at Sage
Gateshead, recently came together
to play for the first time in nearly
five months as part of two special
outdoor performances in Newcastle.
The ensemble is one of the first full
orchestras in the country to perform
in front of a live audience since March.
The concerts took place at Summerhill
Bowling Club, in front of supporters,
local residents and members of
education project In Harmony.
Happily, Snape Maltings has since
also been able to hold some outdoor
events, as has St George’s Bristol. As well
as obsessively following government
updates, organisers must now keep
watch on the weather.@claireiswritingTime to take
things outside
Gardenofdelights
The RNS orchestra
performed in the grounds
of a bowling club