Page 37 - Guildhall Coverage Book 2020-21

What followed was a period of grief, fear and frustration for the country’s creative industries – and
for orchestras, there were very real concerns that the orchestral landscape may never return to
normal. Sir Mark Elder and Sir Simon Rattle – two of the UK’s foremost and most revered
conductors – wrote an open letter expressing with unflinching urgency the perilous future faced by
the country’s orchestras. “There’s a real possibility of a devastated landscape on the other side of
this; orchestras may not survive, and if they do, they may face insuperable obstacles to remain
solvent in our new reality,” they wrote.

When the government announced its £1.57 billion rescue package for the UK’s creative industries,
this was welcomed by senior figures across Britain’s creative landscape. “It has been a very welcome
and substantial investment and recognition by the Government of the particular challenges that
the cultural sectors face,” says Michael Eakin, Chief Executive of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
Orchestra. “It will help the sector get through to the end of the financial year, in March 2021.
However there will remain a challenge of recovery through 2021 and beyond for many
organisations, especially if restrictions continue well into next year.”
The arts is on borrowed time and is still hanging by a thread. And for orchestras, there still remains
the question of how to navigate social distancing restrictions in order to continue playing as one.

Students at Guildhall School of Music using the low latency tech

After all, playing together in harmony – remaining hyper-sensitive to every note played by all the
other musicians, working together under the omnipotent guide that is the conductor’s baton – is
an orchestra’s bread and butter. Orchestras, by their very nature, are symbiotic. They’re not
designed to be split into singular, disparate entities (entities that are doubtless exceptionally
talented musicians nonetheless). They’re a living, breathing force; a single unit, working together
to bring a piece of music to life.

But Covid-19, alas, is also a living, breathing force that just this week has resulted in new
restrictions and growing fears of a second lockdown. So how can orchestras continue to come together
to produce the exquisite symphonious music that is cherished by so many?
This is a question that Guildhall, for one, can proffer a technological answer to. “For musicians to
perform "in sync" you need a latency (the delay between you speaking, and someone else hearing)