English Touring Opera offers an apologia of sorts
NewsThe troubled company, which replaced half its orchestra with musicians of greater diversity, has published a response to a Musicians Union demand for an explanation.
It’s not so much an explanation, more a bore-you-to-death piece of bureaucracy.
Read the whole thing here. Nobody’s taking responsibility for taking away the livelihood of a dozen families, let alone compensating them. The individuals who made the decision lack the courage to stand behind them.
The statement is just wiffle-waffle.
Going forward, it is ETO’s intention to make auditions a regular feature of our processes for selecting musicians for the freelance pool, and we are making plans to hold a further round of auditions for musicians in Summer 2022. In advance of that, we plan to consult widely with other performing companies, and relevant industry organisations, including the MU, so that we can provide further reassurance of equal and fair treatment.
Heads need to roll.
photo: Richard Hubert Smith
Can we now get over the Eurocentric conceit that things are only crazy in the U. S.?
I don’t recall anyone saying that. I do, however, recall people pointing out quite correctly that BLM, which prompted much of this, started in the US.
America-bashing is the sport of choice on this “news site,” as you will undoubtedly be reminded when you read more of the comments that will unfold below.
They have the ‘honour’ to have started all this!! They broke it, they own it.
But we’re the ones picking up the pieces.
That would be the “honor.”
Yup; something else they got wrong.
The longer such a press statement is, the more problems arise. And this is a stupidly long text. Why did players who had worked for ETO for many years not get re-invited? Because they were not good enough? Or because they were seen as coming from too privileged a background? Worth a few phone calls to the management to find out: 020 7833 2555
Does the UK have any employment policies equivalent to those in the US regarding age discrimination? Wondering from the comment: “players who had worked for ETO for many years”.
Due to the seasonal hirings, not sure if it would apply even in a similar situation in the US, but I would bet someone would file a suit if this happened in the US.
(And – I don’t mean to start a discussion on age discrimination laws – just my reflexive reaction to the comment quoted above.)
Absolutely…. ACAS deal with discrimination in job interviews, freelancers etc
Good question. The problem is that many orchestras in the UK only exist on paper, and may even consist 100% of freelancers, i.e. players who are neither part-time nor full-time employees of the outfit. One sees the same faces in several ostensibly discrete bands, ones which are manifestations of a single vast pool of networked players.
This state of play obviates the need of the “employer” to pay social security or be in any way responsible for the musicians.
Even the major London orchestras have a vast “subbing” system. So be warned when booking one for an away game as it were, and add “no subs” to the contract, or you will get the B Team, with the A Team on tour somewhere else.
The UK is a pretty tough place to work as a freelancer, and this leads in turn to the system, for want of a better word, often being abused by the musicians, who will, at the drop of a hat, pull out of an often verbal agreement at short notice in order to play somewhere else for a few quid more.
It all comes down to low ticket prices and the way concert life is valued, or not as is the case, by the audience.
“The problem is that many orchestras in the UK only exist on paper”
You mean like this:
“Since 1886 there has been a festival orchestra each year, consisting of the best musicians from other musical ensembles. So it has remained to this day: around 200 musicians from distinguished orchestras in Germany and abroad come together every year for the Bayreuth Festival.”
(Bayreuther Festspiele website)
It’s just that it sounds slightly better.
Well said. A clear insight into the realities of life as a professional musician in the UK today. Should be reprinted at the front of all music college prospectuses.
Don’t imagine for an instant that you’d get anything more than old Soviet style propaganda for an answer. About the Comrades and all that.
Usually your anti-Soviet fixation is just risible and irrelevant. But here it is downright unhelpful. You see Reds everywhere you see a different opinion. That is absolutely absurd.
“replaced half its orchestra” (SD) = “added 44 musicians to the freelance pool” after holding auditions for “new and emerging talent” while “musicians who had recently performed with ETO were automatically included in the expanded pool of freelance players.” (ETO statement)
“taking away the livelihood of a dozen families”. (SD)
So it is certain that (a) the 12 or 13 freelance musicians not engaged for the 2022 season were all sole or main breadwinners of a dependent family group, and (b) the freelance work they did, “on a production by production basis”, for the ETO, was their sole source of income?
There is certainly wiffle-waffle involved here, but not in the ETO statement.
There is definitely some sensationalism here from Norman here (as per usual). However, there are questions that still need to be answered. Most importantly: what criteria were taken into account when deciding who would be offered an audition? I’m afraid the entire process from ETO’s side has been opaque.
It would be interesting to find out if ETO is paying MU rates to the new, diverse players, who will be hungry for work and might play for a pittance.
“Candidates were selected for audition on the basis of their experience.” according to the ETO statement.
It seems to me that one question to be asked is why the ETO did not in the past recruit orchestral musicians for their freelance pool by audition, as they did for singers, but instead had a pool “made up exclusively of musicians known from previous seasons or recommended to ETO by associates (including players already in the pool)”. In other circumstances, if the dreaded word ‘diverse’ was not in play, this practice would smack of cronyism or maybe even nepotism, and SD would no doubt have condemned it on those grounds.
This is no apology – just a desperate attempt to cover up their shameful actions as Director James Conway and Music Director Gerry Cornelius have been found out in their quest to replace long standing orchestral musicians in the pit.
The way forward is simple; – boycott supporting ETO’s performances any further and encourage all those you know do, do follow suit.
This is something those following this debacle in the Daily Mail have already considered on line.
With the help of more sympathetic and supportive journalism on this issue to spread the word, it could be possible to bring this disgraceful behaviour to the full attention of those who purchase tickets to the performances of this company who rely on ticket sales to exist in the first place – and Arts Council financial support, which in light of the lies ETO told about ACE untrue initial demands over ‘greater diversity’ as a smoke screen to replace musicians should also come into question about whether or not ACE should continue to financially support this rotten opera company.
Because forcing a major opera company out of business will be REALLY beneficial for freelance musicians. For goodness’ sake…
I don’t believe anyone wishes for ETO to go bankrupt, but that we would all like to know why, in the middle of the pandemic, a new system was implemented, one that led to the loss of livelihoods for many loyal players. Harsh.
More than harsh. Despicable.
ETO is NOT a major opera company – do your research before ticking me off. ROH, Opera North, Scottish Opera & WNO are – ENO – just…
You don’t seem to have grasped the point of challenging the ETO issue either, or are you James Conway or Gerry Cornelius IC225? – not brave enough or wanting to realise the way ETO management has behaved over this matter is despicable, unacceptable, and a travesty to those orchestral musicians whose livelihoods have been serious damaged by their destructive lies and deceit. These are facts, not hype or drama.
In a country with so little opera – touring or sedentary – ETO can surely be considered major to some degree. What they have done is beneath contempt.
Well said! Major opera company ETO is not. As for its orchestra, again, just a pick up band, i.e. players with no employment status or any kind of protection.
This from their website:
“The ETO orchestra is made up of the leading freelance musicians in the country, varying in composition depending on the repertoire and project. For the majority of our performances, the orchestra performs in the theatre pits, sometimes in front of or underneath the stages in our touring venues. No venue is the same, so we have to be flexible and adapt our layout. Our ‘partner orchestra’ The Old Street Band is made up of freelance period instrument players who perform on original instruments (or exact replicas) from the time that the music was written.”
ETO in not a major opera company!
Absolutely spot on – this ‘apology’ is no such thing and deeply disappointing.
I was hoping for an admission of the damage it had caused not only for the musicians who lost their jobs through an inept process, but also for it so massively undermined the role of diversity in organisations that it so important – indeed I think it took the progress back 10 years.
The letter that went to musicians that lost their place on the tour said in pretty explicit terms ‘we’re not having you because we need a more diverse orchestra because that’s what the funding demands’. It was horrific on so many levels. It placed blame for needing diversity on funding – rather than owning the decision. It came up with an inherently unfair system for replacing older musicians. It was an act of clearing out the dead wood under the name of diversity. I don’t mean that as personally disrespectful to the musicians who lost their roles – but if that was the agenda all along, for god sake be upfront about it – auditions for everyone, performance management and feedback – so many options. I’m still so angry!
I think the reason I’m really so angry is that, this aside – I love ETO and their mission. They’ve just really got this one wrong.