Just in: Barbican poaches rival music chief
NewsKings Place arts centre is losing its director Helen Wallace, who is to become head of music at the Barbican from January.
Kings Place is two stops up the Metropolitan Line from the Barbican, which has struggled to put together a credible music season since Nick Kenyon’s hasty departure two years ago. Will Gompertz, who was brought in from the BBC to fill the gap, knew little about classical music and cared less.
Wallace, who has been Artistic and Executive Director at Kings Place since 2020, is a former editor of BBC Music magazine and a capable administrator with ideas of her own.
This is a smart hire by the Barbie, especially in light of prevailing classical chaos at the rival South Bank Centre
I’m a member of both and I’m sad she is leaving King’s Place as her programming has been brilliant but on the other hand pleased for her going to the Barb. Badly needed.
This is the same Helen Wallace who attacked a Times journalist in the comments section of an article about music in London for not acknowledging her as the “named artistic director“ of her venue “Do you have a problem with me or my venue?” she added. Not the first time she did this sort of thing As an artist manager I found her impossible to deal with and I’m not alone. Major chip. Congratulations Barbican as the ego has landed, despite Norman‘s unqualified praise.
Congratulations Helen. What happened to Huw Humphreys?
Yes, this article misses out the much missed HH who Wallace is actually replacing . HH resigned, I guess Gompertz was the reason, a musical philistine, which HH is def not, he is a musician, a great programmer, loves music and working with musicians.
Gompertz was almost for sure told to leave before being fired, he upset everyone in the arts dep at the Barbican. His new job is looking after a house museum. Shame this did not happen before HH resigned.
The only person who had a superb and scholarly love of modern composition and early music was Gillian Moore. I don’t know of professional whereabouts now but she hasn’t been on record review (BBC radio 3) since the disgusting dumbing down. She was at rfh for many years
@Warren: the lightest of research would have revealed that Moore is Artistic Associate at the Southbank Centre (having been its Director of Music and Performing Arts until 2022) and that she was on BBC Radio 3 Record Review as recently as 23 September of this year.
And she was on the ‘disgustingly dumbed down’ Record Review again this morning. How embarrassing for her (or for you)
Another suit. Not a musician.
Helen Wallace will bring middlebrow, middle-class, middling “ideas” to the Barbican in abundance. She is an unkind, scheming person lacking in any basic principles and the Barbican should hang its head in shame. How she manages to talk herself onto every last voting panel is a source of mystery as she’s not even qualified to run a croissant stand in Dulwich, the obvious constituency for her intellectual contributions to the world.
Let’s hope she does a better job than the pathetically woke and limp-wristed Dada is managing over the river. It seems you’re guaranteed a Southbank gig if you’re one-legged, black or gay, but the Berlin Phil doesn’t get a look-in. Good luck her her: these are dismal times for music in London.
Does the Berlin Phil *want* to play at the Southbank Centre? The Royal Festival Hall doesn’t have the best reputation as a concert venue. (Otherwise Simon would never have expended so much energy on campaigning for a new concert hall for London.)
As a one-legged black gay guy I can say that I welcome the opportunity and dislike your tone.
In a crowded field, one of the most deeply spiteful, unpleasant, and prejudiced comments I’ve read on here for some time. You should be ashamed