Orchestras with nowhere to raise the baton

[ASUmusicMAN]

Orchestras with nowhere to raise the baton

Refurbishment of Festival Hall poses problem for two famous names

Charlotte Higgins, arts correspondent

Saturday April 24, 2004

The Guardian

Together they have notched up 130 years of distinguished musicmaking. They have been led by such stellar names as Wilhelm Furtwängler, Richard Strauss and Arturo Toscanini; Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink and Sir Georg Solti. They are both world-class orchestras. But now the Philharmonia and the London Philharmonic Orchestra face eviction from their home and an uncertain future.

After years of delays and false starts work finally began this week on the £90m refurbishment of their current home, the Royal Festival Hall. But with just over a year to go until the venue's closure period - planned to last from summer 2005 until late 2006 - no decision has been made about an alternative home for the orchestras.

The situation is approaching crisis point as they struggle to plan and budget their forthcoming seasons - a task well-nigh impossible in the circumstances.

Their most likely option is to mount concerts in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the RFH's neighbour on the South Bank. But because the QEH seats only 900 as opposed to the RFH's 3,000, the orchestras stand to lose two-thirds of box office income. A plan to build a £7m temporary venue on the site of a South Bank car park fell through last year.

Michael Lynch, chief executive of the South Bank, said: "It was a 'loony Lynch' plan that I came up with when I first came in [in September 2002] ... But the scale of the RFH building project and the difficulty of funding the temporary venues ruled it out of contention last year. The orchestras were very supportive of the idea, but I don't think any of the other powers were very keen."

Viable alternatives are thin on the ground. The only other full-scale classical concert hall in London is the Barbican hall, but that has a busy schedule with its own resident band, the London Symphony Orchestra, and a host of visiting ensembles.

According to Timothy Walker, the artistic director and chief executive of the LPO: "We are at the point where we have exhausted all other options but the QEH. I approached the Coliseum and the Royal Opera House for some events, but they had no availability ... For some events the Royal Albert Hall and St Paul's Cathedral are possible, though that's not absolutely determined."

For David Whelton, managing director of the Philharmonia, the only logical solution is the QEH. Research shows that audiences are loyal to the South Bank, and could be disinclined to follow the orchestra to other parts of London.

But the loss of income if they pursue that option could be punishing. "Even if we plan the most prudent season the bottom line is not looking good. We haven't found any way of making up the shortfall in box office income," said Mr Whelton. "Currently we make about £9-£10,000 in box office for each concert we do in the RFH. In the QEH, we'd get a third of that."

He also estimates that the orchestra would lose about £200,000 per year in sponsorship if it moves to the QEH, a far less glamourous venue than the RFH, with fewer facilities for sponsors. Increasing their touring commitments is one possible option. But according to Mr Whelton, the touring market "cannot sustain much more than we do anyway".

Responsibility

Both the Philharmonia and the LPO hope that Arts Council England will pitch in with special funding to help them make up the loss of income. "Clearly it is in the interests of ACE that we get through this," says Mr Whelton. "We have a collective responsibility for making sure the whole process is a success."

According to Mr Walker, "the Arts Council has put in a lot of money to orchestras in recently. But when stabilisation money came through a few years ago there was no sense that we would be in this position. There is every reason we should make a case for special assistance."

A spokeswoman for ACE said: "The orchestras are expected to operate within the budgets of the funding they already have. What they have had in the last funding round has taken into account the RFH's closure period." Both receive £1.6m subsidy per year which will rise to £1.9m in 2005-6.

The London Philharmonic was founded in 1932 by Sir Thomas Beecham, heir to a laxative pill fortune, and as well-known for his caustic wit and entrepreneurial prowess as for his baton-wielding. At the orchestra's debut, the leading critic of the day, Ernest Newman, wrote that "nothing so electrifying has been heard in a London concert room for years."

The Philharmonia also had close connections with Beecham - he conducted their first concert, in October 1945. Later, Strauss conducted it in the world premiere of his Four Last Songs, and Stravinsky chose to record his Rite of Spring with the orchestra.

In the crowded economy of London symphony orchestras, both have maintained high standards; the Philharmonia has a strong claim to be the best in the country.

According to Mr Whelton: "The orchestras are playing really well and are in a stable financial position at the moment. That's the result of recent good funding and good audiences. The closure will threaten all that.

"You can't overestimate the disruption this will cause to our normal operations," says Mr Walker. "But we do have to make it work. We stand to benefit from a refurbished hall."

The most important alterations to the RFH are the planned improvements to the acoustics, regarded by many musicians and concert-goers as unsatisfactory (Sir Simon Rattle once said that they "sapped the will to live").

Mr Whelton says: "What has been proposed is terrific - I am hoping it will be at the level of the Philharmonie in Berlin."

The Philharmonie is home to the Berlin Philharmonic, and widely regarded as one of the best concert halls in the world.

Homelessness proves a challenge for companies

· English National Opera

During the London Coliseum's refurbishment, the English National Opera was absent from its home from June 2003 until February this year. It staged a nine-week season in the Barbican, with a critically well-received production of Cosi Fan Tutte, Samuel West's opera-directing debut. But problems mounted as the building work ran behind schedule, meaning that a whole production - the long-awaited revival of John Adams's Nixon in China - had to be cancelled. Although the ENO had suffered financial problems, needing a £13m bailout from Arts Council England, the refurbishment was done on budget - if not on time

· Almeida Theatre

During the redevelopment of the theatre in Islington, north London, the Almeida's then artistic directors, Jonathan Kent and Ian McDiarmid, rejected the option of setting up in the West End and found a disused bus shed in King's Cross for performances from 2001 to 2003. The Almeida found it tough raising funds for its redevelopment, but its rough- and-ready temporary home was a huge success.

· The Royal Ballet/Opera

Absence from the Royal Opera House was a punishing time for the Royal Ballet and Opera. Between mid-1997 and late 1999 (when they gave performances at the Albert Hall, Shaftesbury Theatre and Royal Festival Hall), they teetered close to bankruptcy. When the Opera House reopened, a whole production - Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre - was cancelled, while technical snags dogged performances. But the glamorous refurbishment, coupled with a capable new management, ushered in an era of relative stability.