A stark warning of a post-Covid-19 "devastated landscape"in orchestral music has been issued by conductors Sir Simon Rattle and Sir Mark Elder in an open letter to the Guardian newspaper.

In it the directors of the London and Halle Symphony Orchestras admit that, "…orchestras may not survive, and if they do, they may face insuperable obstacles to remain solvent in our new reality."

Policy clarity

The correspondence is the latest plea from high profile figures in the cultural and musical spheres that the arts sector has been forgotten during the Coronavirus pandemic, with musicians, venues and organisations having to cope with huge losses of income with little policy clarity being offered by the government to provide plans for immediate help and future recovery.

Recently, representatives of both the Royal Opera House and Royal Albert Hall were part of group that stated the theatre and concert hall sector required £300 million of investment to be pumped back into the industry for every three months venues were closed across the country.

And whilst some such as the Wigmore Hall have opened to provide recitals with no audience present, and the BBC has said it was "hopeful"of being able to provide some form of Proms season broadcasts, both also revealed that they could not reopen to the public with social distancing measures in place.

Same room

Rattle and Elder expressed their belief that music making was a "live experience"and in their words, "…requires all the participants, performers and listeners alike, to be in the same room together."

The added: "What we may do individually over the internet in these months is all well and good, but the living core of our work is a live communion, a sharing of space, art and emotion which is both vital and healing."

New norm

However, both also felt that a form of social distancing may well have to become the accepted norm: "We MUST find a way to play together soon, even without an audience, if we are to maintain anything like our normal standards, and we badly need clarity from government, a timeline, of when that might be and how it can be implemented.

We understand that we cannot expect to revert to everything as it was before; we will be creative and tireless in making contingency plans and solving problems."

They also acknowledged that the first year of return may well be the hardest, saying: "It will need support and understanding, particularly when it ventures out in public once more.

The first year of performing with fewer musicians to a much smaller public will be our toughest time, and we will need a helping hand to make it through."

Until we have some practical idea of what our future might entail, musicians in our country will continue to feel out in the wildernessSir Simon Rattle and Sir Mark Elder

Doubt

However, any optimism was laced with doubt. "In the UK we must gain time by learning what has already been proved to work, rather than starting from the beginning yet again, with people not from the performing arts making the decisions.

Until we have some practical idea of what our future might entail, musicians in our country will continue to feel out in the wilderness."

They also felt the current situation cast a huge shadow over enticing audiences back to listen as well as persuading the next generation of young musicians that they could have a future career as a professional musician.

They wrote: "…how can we get back to live music? How can we give our audiences the courage to gradually return?

More immediately, how can we maintain musical continuity when orchestras are silenced? And how do we nurture a generation of young musicians whose prospects look bleak just as they embark on a career in this ever more uncertain world?"

Evidence

The letter follows anecdotal evidence put forward by the Musician's Union that 70% of theatres had said that they would run out of money by the end of 2020, although the Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden was reported saying: "I am not going to stand by and see our world-leading position in arts and culture destroyed. Of course I want to get the money flowing, I am not going to let anyone down."

More information:

The letter can be read in full at:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jun/10/orchestras-might-not-survive-after-coronavirus-pandemic-uk-conductors?CMP=share_btn_tw