A leading composer mourns the loss of BBC Singers
NewsFrom Judith Bingham:
Completely devastated to hear the news about the BBC Singers, giving them such short notice too. All of my professional life has been bound up with them, from the 70s, as a dep, through 12 years on the staff choir, to my pride at being their Composer in Residence. It is such a small saving for the BBC, given what they contribute, and what they have contributed in commissions and in the famous singers who have come from their ranks. People all over the world will be disbelieving at this act of cultural vandalism. I’m reaching out to Judith Weir, and ask her, as Master of the King’s Music, to use her influence to try and affect this decision.
And this from the RPS:
Like everyone, we’re shocked and sad to hear the news about the @BBCSingers. Just last week, they were recognised as one of the UK’s leading ensembles at the #RPSAwards for ‘ setting new standards in choral music, refreshing their scope through exciting partnerships… 1/3
— Royal Philharmonic Society (@RoyalPhilSoc) March 7, 2023
Unbelievable. La creme de la creme.
This is simply devastating news, absolutely impossible to understand and completely unjustifiable!
Shocking and disgraceful…
Conservative governments always slash funding for public broadcasters. The BBC budget has shrunk significantly and this is sadly the result.
Interesting what is said here about Judith Weir, Master of the King’s Music. I thought I read here that Charlie’s first priority is King is ‘to save classical music’..? Not the best start, this.
Well, he’s not the one who made the decision, and the constitution monarch is not supposed to be interfering in decisions like this. (He probably could have done a lot more to campaign for the BBC Singers as Prince of Wales than he can do now as King.)
I don’t want to be a downer but not much we can do if the greasy Webb has made his mind up on this. In Birmingham we know him of 0ld, he gets off on welding the knife, all with a fat grin plastered over his slap worthy face.
Well said Judith Bingham. Lets hope that more composers and musicians will give their reaction to the demise of the highly respected BBC Singers and take whatever action they can.
Incidentally I always thought of the BBC Singers as an ‘agile’ ensemble along with talented and highly competent!
Major broadcasters worldwide have their own professional radio choirs. Are we to understand that the BBC is so cash strapped that they can no longer compete ?
The cited desire to make the most of every pound of the licence fee is admirable, but shouldn’t that be what they are already doing now?
Sadly there are groups out there today equally as good if not better – The Sixteen, for instance.
What does one expect from the the Ɓeeb’ regarding classical music or radio 2’s mature listeners? I stream MDR klassik and BR klassik from Germany through my stereo hifi system and Radio Switzerland’s Jazz & Big Band station is one of my options for the music of my youth. I am 85
A hotch-potch ensemble with more ringers than regulars. Being a bullet sight reader more important than being able to blend. But that was the systemic management error, not the fault of the singers. No big loss.
Their blend is far better now than it was five years ago. Sofi Jeannin has worked wonders with them.
And perfect pitch! The sight-reading ability is phenomenal but a couple of read-throughs of a piece and then onto the radio, not so sure.
If I were King Charles III, I would immediately rehire them under personal patronage and give them a starring musical role on 6 May. Make the BBC broadcast it and be forced to mention their own acts of cultural vandalism as the world watches on. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face, BBC. Nothing is really appreciated until it’s gone.
Excellent suggestion.
Including Garry Lineker! But no one or no group is ever indispensable in life.
Can the Master of the King’s Music have any effect on decisions of the BBC? Maybe the King, who is known to favor classical music, might be able to exert some influence…
The BBC singers have added as much to early and modern music as some universities have added to science/ medicine. Why not close down one of the reactionary pop/rock consumer capitalist channels !! Because the BBC is run by shallow trendy tossers who read the “grauniad”. Which is the full extent of their aesthetic capabilities.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/mar/07/bbc-singers-choir-to-close-as-part-of-corporations-major-review-of-classical-music
As it happens, the “grauniad” covered the cuts quickly and well. And with a general tone of regret. 130 odd BTL commentators refer to the cultural vandalism this represents. Maybe your trendy tossers are not Guardian readers after all…
There is nothing to argue about here. This is simply an utter tragedy that should never have been allowed to happen.
Nothing shocks me these days regarding the BBC’s cultural vandalism.
Thin end of the wedge. The bureaucrats will pick off the orchestras next, one by one or possibly in one ecstatic splurge, while collecting hefty bonuses that will barely be covered by the resultant cost savings.
I live in Israel, far from BBC concerts, and I recognize “BBC Singers” as top line, first class, world famous. As with the Arts Council’s recent, devastating opera cutbacks, the BBC’s look like a low class (not lower class) effort to cut UK down to size. Like Brexit itself. “They’d surely not be missed.” They already are!
Perhaps Judith Bingham’s musings reproduced here have been edited. It would be more constructive to tell us what alternative BBC classical cuts that she would prefer.