A Telegraph commentary by anti-abuse campaigner Ian Pace in response to the rape conviction of Philip Pickett ought to provoke a bout of soul-searching at England’s ‘elite’ music schools and conservatories.

chethams-school-of-music

 

Ought to, but probably won’t. The response to past crimes at Chetham’s and the RNCM in Manchester, resulting in the conviction of Mike Brewer and several further arrests, resulted in a battening down of hatches. Nobody in the governance of those schools at the time was called to account for turning a blind eye to what many students described as a predatory culture. Simmering trouble at the Purcell School, where a head was dismissed for improper activities, were swept similarly under the carpet. A over-up persists.

purcell school

The Guildhall, where Pickett taught, has expressed regrets and cooperated with police without offering substantive proof that student safety is now paramount to its current practice.

guildhall

At Juilliard in New York last month, one student’s complaint against a piano professor, resulted (as we reported) in his immediate suspension That has yet to happen in an English music school. Until it does, we cannot believe that the culture has changed.

 

A Telegraph commentary by anti-abuse campaigner Ian Pace in response to the rape conviction of Philip Pickett ought to provoke a bout of soul-searching at England’s ‘elite’ music schools and conservatories.

chethams-school-of-music

 

Ought to, but probably won’t. The response to past crimes at Chetham’s and the RNCM in Manchester, resulting in the conviction of Mike Brewer and several further arrests, resulted in a battening down of hatches. Nobody in the governance of those schools at the time was called to account for turning a blind eye to what many students described as a predatory culture. Simmering trouble at the Purcell School, where a head was dismissed for improper activities, were swept similarly under the carpet. The cover-up persists.

purcell school

The Guildhall, where Pickett taught, has expressed regrets and cooperated with police without offering substantive proof that student safety is now paramount to its current practice.

guildhall

At Juilliard in New York last month, one student’s complaint against a piano professor, resulted (as we reported) in his immediate suspension That has yet to happen in an English music school. Until it does, we cannot believe that the culture has changed.

 

Our Italian golo profondo has been shocked to discover that a private jet has been booked to fly Zubin Mehta from Naples (where he’s conducting Tristan next week) to Milan for Aida. Not once, but seven times.

In an era of austerity, that seems a tad … extravagant. Especially if La Scala is paying for it out of the public purse.

Mehta is substituting at La Scala for the late Lorin Mazel.

So we made a few enquiries. Nothing untoward, it seems. Mehta’s flights are being paid for by  a private sponsor, his own, not La Scala’s (rather like the late Countess Ceschina would pay for Gergiev’s jets).

In fact, La Scala saves money on the deal. About 5,000 Euros in all on scheduled Business Class flights.

 

Zubin Mehta in Srinagar

(not in one of these)

 

Philip Pickett cut quite a figure in the early music revolution of the 1970s. In the intersecting acts of performing, teaching and selling the new doctrines of period practice, he was a trumpet player who took up the record, shawn and rackett, founding and leading ensembles and negotiating their contracts with major record labels. His recordings with the New London Consort were highly praised and commercially successful.

picket vivaldi

Pickett was also a professor at the Guildhall from 1972 and a social animal. Married successively to a singer and a harpsichord player, he was seen at openings and dinner parties with leaders of the classical music industry. Colleagues found him quiet, unobtrusive. Women we have spoken to report no difficulties, or any suspicion of abusive attitudes.

But Pickett was a rapist who used sound-proofed practise rooms at the Guildhall to overcome impressionable young students. He got away with it because the Guildhall wanted his fame and was prepared to believe him above the tears of its students.

 

Pickett-Philip-2

The Guildhall said today: ‘Although these events took place several decades ago, this does not diminish our utter shock that a professional music teacher could abuse the trust placed in him by the School and its students. The Guildhall School wholeheartedly welcomes the verdicts. Justice has been done and our thoughts are with the victims of these dreadful crimes. The Guildhall School takes the duty of care of its students extremely seriously. Robust safeguarding procedures are in place at the School to ensure safe learning environments for all students and these measures are regularly reviewed.’

Questions remain. Who knew? Who covered up? How many more girls were raped before the Jimmy Savile scandal made it impossible for elite music schools to hide behind soundproofed walls?

Pickett’s name will go down in disgrace. But there is much to be done to ensure that music schools in England are safe and fit for purpose.

Philip Pickett, founder and leader of several early music ensembles, has been sentenced at the Old Bailey to 11 years for rape and attempted rape of young women students at the Guildhall School of Music in the 1970s and 1980s.

The case has been unreported until this morning, due to restrictions imposed by the judge.

philip pickett

Pickett, 64, denied the charges.

He was convicted of raping a 16 year old girl during a recorder lesson back in 1978. She reported it after the Jimmy Savile scandal broke two years ago. Parents of a 17 year-old he attacked were told by the Guildhall School of Music to consider sending her elsewhere. Police believe there may be more victims who have yet to come forward.

‘In each case there is an aggravating feature that this was a gross abuse of process,’ Judge Charles Wilde told Pickett.

‘You were their teacher. To a degree, they were in awe of you, especially the schoolgirls. There is the location of the offences – in the practise rooms at the Guildhall School of Music.’

Pickett was found guilty of two counts of rape and two counts of indecent assault. He was found not guilty of a further six counts.

One victim, 16 years at the time, came to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1978 as a sixth form student to learn the recorder with Pickett. During a lesson Pickett asked her to take her top off, suggesting she needed to work on her breathing. He then ordered her to lie on the floor before indecently assaulting her. During a lesson the following week she was raped by Pickett.

The judge’s sentence is almost twice as long as the six years handed to director of music Mike Brewer for offences that occurred while he was at Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music.

Pickett has been a leading figure in early music performance and the music industry. More here.

UPDATE: Oxford Mail reports: After he was convicted on February 10, Pickett’s defence team tried to delay sentencing to accommodate Pickett’s commitment to arranging three music festivals.

But Judge Wide rejected it, saying the defendant had his “head in the sand” and carried on as if nothing had happened.

The conductor, 75 today, has given a soft-soap interview to Deutsche Welle. He has found the key to happiness: ‘Routine is a horrible word. It shouldn’t exist for anyone. I preach that practically like a priest,’ he says.

He speaks of his love of Washington, DC, failing to mention his demission this week. Read here.

Eschenbach-Feyerbacher

The veteran conductor Vladimir Fedoseyev is making a good recovery, Tass reports from Moscow, after being rushed to hospital in a serious condition two weeks ago. He has been transferred to a regular ward and hopes to fulfil a pair of Moscow concerts in a month’s time.

Fedoseyev_compressed