Why swap the best job in music for a cold and stony beach?
mainHere are some of the reasons Roger Wright may have considered in resigning as head of BBC Radio 3 and the BBC Proms in order to become chief executive at Aldeburgh:
1 He has headed the BBC’s classical music output for 15, going on 16 years. Fatigue can set in.
2 No BBC Controller has ever held any post for that long. Pressure may have started to build.
3 Another year of BBC rules, regulations, compliance, meetings with heads of this and that? Smell the sea.
4 Tough money times ahead at the BBC. Roger has cut deep. His successor will have to go deeper. Jump now while ahead.
5 Roger is 57, going on 58. The clock ticks.
6 Aldeburgh has a good fund-raising chairman in Simon Robey. He’s also chair of Covent Garden. BBC DG Tony Hall will have sung his praises to Roger.
7 No more Proms. He can take a proper family holiday in summer.
8 New music, always Roger’s big thing.
9 The Proms are universally loved. Aldeburgh is not. A big, counter-intuitive challenge.
10 There isn’t one. Or, if there is, you’ll read it here first.
There is a No. 10, and it was made quite clear by Tony Hall’s announcement today…