The Last of the BBC Proms?

In my monthly essay for Standpoint magazine, I assess the bleak future for the Proms and two of the BBC orchestras as new management and financial assaults dismantle the old defences.

Proms controllers for the past quarter-century — John Drummond, Nick Kenyon, Roger Wright — fought to protect the festival’s unique character from interference by the rest of the BBC. When Wright signed off on the first night of the 2014 Proms, the resistance ended. It will not be revived. The incoming Proms chief, David Pickard, is a former yes man to the Glyndebourne set. His boss, the Radio 3 controller, Alan Davey, is a career civil servant. Both are Musilian men without qualities, ill-equipped to withstand the coming storm.

The next phase is commercialisation.

I have some new figures and some distressing facts. It’s looking seriously bleak.

You can read the full essay here.