The putsch ended today. For the past year, by pressure and poisoned whisper, Arts Council England has been trying to get rid of English National Opera’s director, John Berry, the source of ENO’s highest international stature. Some find Berry difficult, others impossible. ACE encouraged the board to sack him. It almost did, but Berry’s supporters prevailed and the ACE backed down today, guaranteeing the company’s new funding amid much muttering and unveiled threats to its future.

Nothing to worry about.

We remember a senior Arts Council official telling the ENO board she would shut down the company. Never happened.

We recall other attempts by the funding body to assert its nebulous authority. In vain. ACE was kicked out of the Royal Opera House boardroom more than a decade ago and not allowed to return. It was exposed for all to see as a paper tiger.

ENO has nothing to fear from dewlap claws. Officially, ENO has been given two years to convince the ACE of its viability but the landscape may look very different by then. There are political plans afoot to abolish the Culture Department (DCMS) and remove ACE to the purview of a larger, less intrusive organ of state. The pressure will shift. Under new lines of authority, ACE will have more to fear for its survival than ENO. And rightly so.

The American Academy of Arts and Letters has named Yehudi Wyner as its next president for the next three years. Wyner, 85, won a 2006 Pulitzer for a piano concerto.

The Academy is ‘an honor society of 250 architects, composers, artists, and writers. The honor of election is considered the highest formal recognition of artistic merit in the United States.’

The accordionist Ksenija Sidorova has been distressed to hear that the Royal Academy of Music is stopping courses that help young musicians cope with stress and performance anxiety. She wants the RAM to reconsider. So do we. Read below.

Dear friends, in particular present and ex Royal Academy of Music students!

I’m so upset with the news I recently heard and want to do something about it.
I never hide that at some points of my career I have felt not particularly comfortable on stage and was seeking professional help regarding his matter. Huge thanks goes to the wonderful psychologist, who happens to be the wife of my accordion professor Owen Murray, Inger Murray.

The Academy wants to stop mental training for musicians classes- cutting costs.

Just for reference, she has recently published a book based on mental training for musicians subject and has a huge past in working with heavy PTSD cases on top of everything she now does for some very well known musicians out there.

And as much as I love the Royal Academy of Music, I docio not understand why such a high profile institution would want to so easily get rid of someone so preus who helps students achieve what they achieve. By doing this they cut students opportunities and chances; needless to say- RAM prestigious name is supported by the performances of its’ students, which depend on psychological state just as much as on musical training, practice and overall education.

I do not recall all of the students who took the class with me back in the day (later I started having one-on-one classes), but anyone who is reading this and willing to help- would you be so kind writing something little, just a few sentences in the support of Inger Murray and post it either in a comment or as a private message to me (on Facebook). I will make sure all of this gets to the right people at RAM and will hope they reconsider.

Help spread the news, tag people and share this post!

UPDATE (24 hours later). The RAM has issued the following statement:

‘The Academy is committed to the health and wellbeing of its students and to providing a world-class training in preparation for all aspects of a successful career in music. Contrary to a recent statement, we are in fact in the process of expanding and strengthening our Professional Development provision in all programmes of study and making it a core element of our students’ educational experience – rather than an optional extra in the curriculum, as it has been in the past.’

He crashed out of Rigoletto in Vienna. Now Simon Keenlyside has let it be known he won’t sing again before the end of April.

The Met have replaced him in Don Carlo with Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Luca Salsi.

We wish Simon a full and swift recovery.

keenlyside

The Minnesota Orchestra will play in Cuba in May, the first US orch to visit since the Obama thaw. Osmo Vänska conducts two concerts at the Cubadisco Festival in May. The orch last set foot on Cuba in 1930. Read here.

An MIT research project, studying the special allure of Cremona instruments, has arrived at the conclusion that Strads are more powerful than a supermarket own-brand.

No big deal. The real conclusion is that the Cremona craftsmen discovered, by trial and error, that a thicker back plate and a larger f-hole will yield a louder noise.

That’s the extra boost, they say. Fascinating study. Read here.

If only cellphones could produce more volume…

The conductor, in London for a Sibelius cycle and publicity blitz, tells BBC News: ”London and Munich are now the two great cities in the world who (sic) don’t have proper concert halls’.

Hmmm…. let’s think: Sydney, Melbourne, Toronto, Johannesburg, Capetown, Delhi, Bombay, Tehran, Geneva, Hamburg….

And, while on the subject, why does BBC arts editor Will Gompertz refer to the ‘ Berliner Philharmoniker’ when the band has been known in English since 1882 as the Berlin Philharmonic? Pretentious twaddle, or arm-twisted branding?

The ACE, trying to cover up its extra grant to English National Opera, has removed the company from a national programme that is no more than its own bureaucratic contrivance. Below you will find the ACE statement, followed by ENO’s response. Compare and contrast.

Arts Council announces special funding arrangements for two organisations

12 February 2015

The Arts Council today (12 February) announces that two organisations, English National Opera and Colchester’s firstsite gallery, will not be admitted into its National portfolio of organisations for 2015-18. Instead they will be placed under special funding arrangements.

The proposed new National portfolio was announced on 1 July 2014 but confirmation of membership is subject to negotiating a funding agreement. As well as showing they will produce excellent work, all companies offered National portfolio status must demonstrate their business plans and their governance are robust enough to ensure the organisations are sustainable over a three-year funding term. In the case of these two companies the Arts Council has continuing concerns which it wants to see addressed.

The special funding arrangements with ENO and firstsite, which will run for two years, and one year respectively, will allow the Arts Council to work closely with each company as they review their business models and governance and to set rigorous milestones to monitor their progress. Entry to the portfolio at a later date will be possible, but will depend on the extent of progress made.

The Arts Council will take decisions on the future funding of both organisations following the implementation of these special arrangements.

English National Opera
ENO is offered funding for two years. The agreement will combine elements of the NPO and transition funding agreements previously proposed in July 2014. £12.38m revenue funding per year, with an additional £6.13m of transition funding, will be made available to the company over the two years to enable it to operate and make changes to its business model.

A considerable amount of work has been undertaken by English National Opera to address the challenges identified during the Arts Council’s Opera and Ballet analysis and the risks highlighted in its National portfolio application. However, a number of significant risks associated with the proposed business plan remain.

This decision has been taken following a period of working very closely with ENO on their proposed funding agreement, further detailed analysis of their business model by financial consultants and recent uncertainty about ENO’s senior leadership team.

firstsite
firstsite is offered funding for one year. The funding agreement will combine elements of NPO revenue funding (£814,517) and transition funding, to be confirmed, which will enable firstsite to operate and restructure.

This decision has been taken following a consultation period with key local stakeholders and funding partners, revised financial accounts from firstsite and an independent analysis of the organisation.

Althea Efunshile, Acting Chief Executive, Arts Council England said: “The Arts Council’s role is to ensure that we get the best value for the taxpayer’s money by investing in well run companies who delight audiences with brilliant work.

“With the very occasional exception, all the organisations we fund do just that.

“No one is doubting that ENO is capable of extraordinary artistic work but we have serious concerns about their governance and business model and we expect them to improve or they could face the removal of our funding. The challenges are similar for firstsite.

“However, we believe these organisations can inspire audiences long into the future and it is our hope and expectation that this happens.”

The National portfolio now includes of 668 arts organisations (NPOs) and 21 Major Partner Museums (MPMs). 46 arts organisations join the portfolio and 60 leave. A final list of NPOs and MPMs will be published on 31 March.

The investment in NPOs for 2015/16 will be £339.5million, compared to £341.4m in 2014/15.

-ends-

Arts Council announces special funding arrangement for English National Opera

Today (Thursday 12 February), Arts Council England have confirmed that English National Opera will receive £30.5m over two years as part of a special funding arrangement. This figure represents the first two years of funding requested by ENO in its original NPO application.

In 2015/16, ENO will be allocated core funding of £12.38m with an additional transition grant of £3.7m to enable the Company to move forwards with its new business model. In 2016/17, ENO will be allocated core funding of £12.38m with an additional transition grant of £2.85m.

During this period, ENO will continue to work closely with the Arts Council to demonstrate the robustness of the future business plan and improve governance. Entry to the portfolio at a later date will be possible, but will depend on the extent of progress made.

Harry Brunjes, Acting Chair of ENO states, “We are very grateful to Arts Council England for awarding ENO £30.5m over two years and thank them for their acknowledgment of our exceptional artistic programme. The ENO Board will continue to work closely with Arts Council England to inspire confidence in our future plans, the management of the Company and the London Coliseum”.

After almost two years of demanding human sacrifice in exchange for extra cash, Arts Council England capitulated this morning beneath the weight of public outcry and its own incompetence.

The ACE will give ENO an extra £30.5m over two years as part of ‘a special funding arrangement’. The extra grant reverses last year’s £5 million cut to ENO’s budget and adds £10m a year for strategic improvements to the company’s business model. The figures are slightly confusing but, at the very least, they restore every penny that the ACE punitively cut from ENO last year.

It marks a total surrender by the ACE, which had been demanding the head of John ‘the Berry’ Baptist, ENO’s director, before it released another penny to the loss-making company. Much is wrong internally at ENO, but its artistic progress is unmatched and its world reputation, as a feeder of new shows to the Met, Munich and elsewhere, is uncontested.

It’s not yet clear what provoked the ACE turnaround, but the departure of ACE’s chief executive, Alan ‘Widmerpool’ Davey, to head BBC Radio 3 has made it easier for the council to allow ENO more time to put its troubled finances in order. And a huge wave of collegial support for Berry has defeated a campaign of polonium leaks against Berry from the ACE, where the new chief executive, Darren Henley, has many fences to mend.

UPDATE: Official statements here.

UPDATE 2: Why ENO has nothing to fear from ACE here.

A contrabass and a viola player have sat in the Portland Symphony Orchestra for more than half a century. Four more players have clocked up over four decades in their seats. Portland is proud of their longevity. Or is it their tenacity, tolerance, dedication,lack of pension fund?

See our list of longest serving musicians of all time for comparison.

portland list