Page 948 - Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Coverage Book 2023-24

or Crescendo! — Beresford King-Smith’s history of the CBSO (which comes with actual
financial stats)?

I’m guessing not, because to work in classical music and be surprised by a funding crisis is
like a sailor being scared of waves. If this one isn’t exactly a tsunami, it’s because the sum
that Birmingham gave to its major arts organisations had been shrinking for years. “100 per
cent cut!” makes for a scary headline; but when that represents only around five per cent of
an organisation’s overall income (which is more or less the case with the CBSO and at least
two of the other affected organisations — the chamber choir Ex Cathedra and Birmingham
Opera Company), well, it’s a knife in the guts, for sure. An ex-colleague was quick to remind
me that arts fundraising outside of London can be agonisingly difficult: that five per cent will
not easily be replaced. But it is (hopefully) survivable.

The paradox is that, artistically speaking, the CBSO is in vigorous health. Symphony Hall is
still the finest orchestral venue in the UK, and musicians and audience both adore the new
Japanese principal conductor, Kazuki Yamada. True, a recent change of chief executive has
ruffled feathers, but you’d expect that with an organisation that has had only three CEOs in
the last 61 years.

It takes a certain kind of personality — the hide of a rhinoceros and the mind of Henry
Kissinger — to manage a full-time symphony orchestra, and the recruitment process was said
to be difficult. The new boss, Emma Stenning, came from the theatre world with no top-level
classical music experience.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing. London-based commentators, some of whom have been
waiting for Birmingham to fail since before Simon Rattle’s departure in 1998, have been
quick to paint a picture that simply doesn’t match what I’m seeing and hearing here in the
Midlands.

“Later in the decade I sat on the committee that voted to abolish my own pension”

True, Stenning made early errors: publishing a bullshit-bingo vision statement seemingly
lifted from one of those corporate awaydays where everyone can just shout out whatever they
think — no wrong answers! Some concerts have been given a lame-sounding makeover, with
visuals, and injunctions to clap whenever. Or so I hear; I haven’t attended one yet. They
might be rather fun. Stenning deserves the benefit of the doubt as she attempts to replace the
missing £600,000 and negotiate any future relationship with the Council. That’s the real
stinger, and it’s emotional as much as financial.

The CBSO was founded by Birmingham City Council in 1920. That relationship endured for
104 years, and its termination marks the end of something more than just an (often
inadequate) cash handout. It’s the death of a century-old vision of enlightened civic
governance in which great art could be supplied on the rates, as well as streetlights and bin
lorries (on its current showing, Birmingham will be lucky to retain even those).

In some ways, that’s the saddest outcome: orchestra and city are each losing part of their
shared identity. That seems to call for more than just outrage; we need a deeper conversation
about the decline of civic culture, and the future of the arts in our national life. But the
immediate problem is a familiar one.