A leftwing solution to the orchestra crisis

From today’s edition of the Morning Star:

If classical music in Britain maintains this current model, with performers often living precariously and having to juggle multiple jobs, and large bodies being localised to certain large cities, classical music will collapse — it may not be as a result of Covid-19, but it cannot maintain itself permanently.

What needs to be fought for is a model similar to the Soviet or current German model, where each region — be it on a municipality/federalised manner or county basis — has specific regularised funds to allow at least an orchestra and opera house, and infrastructure from learner to professional can be stable in such a manner that chorus singers can dedicate themselves fully to their job and not have to juggle extra auditions in the hope of making enough to pay rent.

If this is done on a county-to-county basis, Kent, Cornwall, Devon, Monmouthshire, Durham, Pembrokeshire, Lanarkshire, the Isle of Man and every other county in Britain would have their own orchestra and opera house.

Simply think of the thousands of musicians who would have stable employment because of this model.

Beyond that, if every county has their own opera house and orchestra, these institutions, formerly seen as bastions of bourgeois culture, could actually shift and connect to their community completely….

Read on here.