Axing of BBC Singers and related cuts

[PeterboroughDiapason]

The BBC Singers are to be axed apparently. No doubt some on here will be pleased.

https://slippedisc.com/2023/03/just-in-bbc-singers-axed-more-musicians-redundant-but-execs-are-saved/

[RichardB]

"This new strategy is bold, ambitious, and good for the sector and for audiences who love classical music."

Bollocks. It is a cost-cutting exercise which will put professional musicians out of work and won't benefit anyone. It's fine to "prioritise Quality, Agility and Impact", but that particular priority is some distance behind that of saving money (except no doubt where management is concerned). "The BBC is the biggest commissioner of music in the country". That is as may be, although it's a pretty low bar to clear I would say, especially with similar cutbacks occurring everywhere else in the cultural sector. The whole thing is so dishonest and desperate. Why not just say look, we in the UK (government and national institutions) don't give a flying damn about anything that doesn't line the pockets of the wealthy, so if you want classical music go and find it elsewhere. I got this message loud and clear many years ago.

[Peanut]

Whilst I've not always appreciated the quality of the Singers, in recent years their sound has been much better. But that's irrelevant in the face of the opportunities they've brought to the choral world over the decades - for singers, composers and listeners. Anybody who appreciates new music or the performance of long-forgotten unrecorded works will soon be mourning this dreadful decision.

[Ein Heldenleben]

"This new strategy is bold, ambitious, and good for the sector and for audiences who love classical music."

Bollocks. It is a cost-cutting exercise which will put professional musicians out of work and won't benefit anyone. It's fine to "prioritise Quality, Agility and Impact", but that particular priority is some distance behind that of saving money (except no doubt where management is concerned). "The BBC is the biggest commissioner of music in the country". That is as may be, although it's a pretty low bar to clear I would say, especially with similar cutbacks occurring everywhere else in the cultural sector. The whole thing is so dishonest and desperate. Why not just say look, we in the UK (government and national institutions) don't give a flying damn about anything that doesn't line the pockets of the wealthy, so if you want classical music go and find it elsewhere. I got this message loud and clear many years ago.

I haven’t read the “strategy” yet as I am trying an “anger management though head in the sand approach
” Thank you for expressing my own opinion so succinctly . Suffice it to say that my former BBC team have all been scattered to the four winds and now it appears musicians are to follow suit. All an inevitable consequence of freezing the licence fee at a time of rampant inflation and when broadcasting costs are rising higher than most other sectors - largely because of talent and skills scarcity.

[tommytomkins]

At least now we might be treated to some decent choral performances

[Ein Heldenleben]

At least now we might be treated to some decent choral performances

This must be a candidate for the meanest spirited debut post in forum history!

[ardcarp]

I think it is tragic. What a Philistine country we are. I know a couple of BBCS personally, and while there are always paid singing gigs in the Home Counties, that is not the same as having the security of a salaried post. I agree that in the past, their particular 'sound' did not always accord with the CE fraternity/sorority, but the BBCS had a much wider spectrum of work. All fantastic sight-readers and bumpers up of other choruses/choirs in big orchestral works.

What is happening to the UK? I gather The Temple choir has downsized its back-desks, despite all the wealthy barristers, for whom, technically, they sing.

[RichardB]

I don’t often look at this part of the forum because choral music isn’t a strong interest of mine, but I’ve heard the BBC Singers on 20th century repertoire a few times over the years and I can’t imagine there are any other groups in the UK that come near them when it comes to negotiating the intonational challenges of Xenakis or Schoenberg, to name but two composers I’ve heard them sing.

[EnemyoftheStoat]

This must be a candidate for the meanest spirited debut post in forum history!

Hear, hear. A shocker.

[EnemyoftheStoat]

Petition against the closure here: https://chng.it/LVKdstCZBH

We could also do with one against the cuts to the orchestras.

[Sarah Inman]

I think it is tragic. What a Philistine country we are. …….
What is happening to the UK?

I agree, Ardcarp. We are sadly diminished in so many ways.

[Pulcinella]

I agree, Ardcarp. We are sadly diminished in so many ways.

Broken Britain.

[gradus]

So much for the new and improved Head of Radio 3.

[Pulcinella]

So much for the new and improved Head of Radio 3.

I imagine that the BBCS were already scheduled to appear in several of this year's Proms.

[ahinton]

I don’t often look at this part of the forum because choral music isn’t a strong interest of mine, but I’ve heard the BBC Singers on 20th century repertoire a few times over the years and I can’t imagine there are any other groups in the UK that come near them when it comes to negotiating the intonational challenges of Xenakis or Schoenberg, to name but two composers I’ve heard them sing.

Indeed; I remember them years in a fine performance of Ferneyhough's early Missa Brevis which, whilst not as demanding as some of his later pieces, presents considerable challenges to the singers.

As for a "bold, ambitious, and good for the sector and for audiences who love classical music", I'd like to know
a) what's "bold" about axing an ensemble just before its centenary which I understand was recently the only BBC one to receive an RPS award
b) what particular species of "ambition" such axing is supposed to represent and
c) what good does dispensing with it do the sector and classical music loving audiences and how does it do this?

You wrote that "the whole thing is so dishonest and desperate", which indeed it is and you asked "why not just say look, we in the UK (government and national institutions) don't give a flying damn about anything that doesn't line the pockets of the wealthy, so if you want classical music go and find it elsewhere", which is precisely the impression that this act of cultural vandalism provides; indeed, I wonder whether, just as the surreptitious selling of off of NHS bit by bit is an intended prelude to selling of the rest of UK, the closing down of BBC Singers is a test exercise for selling off BBC...