Orchestra gets out of Bath
OrchestrasThe former Bath Festival Orchestra has renamed itself Chromatica and taken up residency at the Battersea Arts Centre in south London.
The driving force is concertmaster Maren Bosma.
She says Chromatica is ‘a tight knit ‘family’ of musicians sharing music onstage with a dynamism that draws the audience into a shared musical experience. Performances do not follow a one-way street from stage to audience. They are a shared journey through the universe of the music performed. This way, the orchestra endeavours to bring a wide repertoire to new audiences and inspire a younger generation to engage with classical music.’
They are an orchestra for acquiring new, young audiences, hence their presentation style is adapted to the supposed mental level of youngsters:
https://bac.org.uk/whats-on/chromatica/
This news is just the tip of a huge iceberg. The Bath Festival dates back to 1948 and its eponymous orchestra was at one time associated with the conductor (and violinist) Yehudi Menuhin. It has had two other names: The Manning Orchestra from 2004 to 2020 and the Chromatica Orchestra from 28th August 2024. The orchestra has been renowned for its performances and recordings, though its financial conduct has, to put it politely, raised severe doubts about its fiscal probity. That’s the short story. For any insomniac readers, the anodyne details are as follows.
The orchestra is a Company Limited by Guarantee; as such it must file annual accounts with Companies House. It was also an exempted charity, meaning that as a relatively small organisation, it could operate without requiring regular audits. Nevertheless, since 2019, it has filed financial reports to the Charity Commission, frequently overdue by up to 77 days. Furthermore, between 2019 and 2022, there was a colossal increase (c54K to c321K) in income but also in expenditure (c30K to c325K) – so in that period it had moved from a small profit to a small deficit.
In the accounts for the year ended 31 December 2022, (presumably because in that accounting year the company’s income had exceeded the threshold for compulsory auditing) , an independent auditor was engaged, who reported that the company had had failed to keep records as required by law, or that financial statements do not accord with the records, or that they do not comply with legal standards, or that they had not been prepared according to recommended practice.
On 28th November 2023, Companies House issued the company with a First Gazette, which was a first warning that the company could be struck off and dissolved, with all assets passed to the Crown. The normal reason for a Gazette is that the company is on the verge of insolvency. It then had three months to take measures to correct the situation. On the following day the Gazette was rescinded, presumably because a credible recovery plan had been approved. Thereafter the band changed their name to Chromatica Orchestra Limited.
Whether this step and the move to London will rescue the chronically delinquent company remains to be seen. I doubt that stating that the concerts ‘are a shared journey through the universe of the music performed’ will go any way towards a resolution. I hope that I will be proved wrong.
Once again, a band of good players at the mercy of incompetent trustees and directors.
I think you’ve found the perfect headline.
Trying to figure out what Ms Bosma’s mission statement means. Perhaps I’m old fashioned in believing that language should make sense.