Page 199 - Media Coverage Book - 75th Aldeburgh Festival 2024

consider the position until I knew the financial future was secure.” Elder
was persuaded. “I trusted John and we decided to go all out for it, start

afresh, realise our common dreams. Central to that was getting the

orchestra playing again with full emotional commitment, because that had
gone. Seeing bankruptcy written on the wall, like Belshazzar’s Feast, had

created a deep malaise. They’d been wounded.”

Sir Mark Elder conducting the Hallé | Russell Hart

What followed was phoenix-like. Elder’s insistence that greater efforts were

needed to embrace and invigorate the orchestra’s wider community, to
expand the demographic of its audiences, led to the creation of multi-stage

youth choirs and a Hallé Youth Orchestra. As a spin-off, says Elder,

“younger audiences at concerts have increased considerably in recent
years”.

At its very heart, though, the orchestra was revitalised. Elder’s
persuasiveness and polish influenced its prize recordings of Wagner and

Elgar. Did he realise his ambitions? “In many ways yes, but it would be