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Chairman: Tom Sutcliffe
Hon Secretary: Margaret Davies
Why doesn't the Music Section have any awards? Read our statement below to find out the reason.
When the Critics Circle started in 1913, it was launched by a group of
theatre critics. But distinguished past presidents have included such
well-known figures as Philip Hope-Wallace, William Mann, Andrew Porter
and Rodney Milnes - all famous for their writing about music and opera.
Charles Osborne, who was the previous chair of the Music Section, is
president of the Critics' Circle currently.
Our present chairman is Tom Sutcliffe, who writes for Opera Now
magazine occasionally and used to be opera critic of the London Evening
Standard, and before that of The Guardian. The music section's
secretary is Margaret Davies (of The Illustrated London News and Opera
Magazine).
The Music Section at present has no prizes on offer for musical or
vocal performers. We differ from other sections in this respect. That
is because a number of our members feel that it is invidious for a
company of critics to single out individual artists for approval, since
critics are in the business of promoting, explaining and assessing the
whole range of talent. The notion that 'only the best will do' may have
advantages for those engaged in the commercial exploitation of
particular vocal or musical talents. But the live performing arts in
the UK, where there is far less subsidy for theatre, dance, opera and
music than exists across the rest of Europe, are damaged by any idea
that the less famous or less accomplished performing artists deserve to
be ignored by the bulk of the wider public.
As Shakespeare put it in A Midsummer Night's Dream, 'The best in this
kind are but shadows and the worst are no worse if imagination amend
them.' It is far more important for critics to encourage the public to
respond with imagination to performing artists, whatever the level of
their achievement, than to worship at the shrines of the most gifted.
Few commentators on the performing arts in the UK have acknowledged the
major difference between theatre and opera, dance or concert audiences.
The West End theatre is part of the tourist industry, whereas the bulk
of opera, classical music and dance audiences are drawn from the local
population in and around London.
There are virtually no theatre companies in England that employ actors
on long-term contracts, and pay their pension contributions in schemes
designed for the acting profession. But that is the norm in the
German-speaking world where there are 259 companies that employ actors,
directors, designers, stage hands and dramaturgs. In the UK there are
six more or less full-time opera companies, though Glyndebourne does
not have its own permanent orchestra and hires a new chorus each year.
Yet, in the German-speaking world there are 83 fully-established opera
companies - with all the trimmings.
The truth about the UK is that, with so few tickets sold for live
performances, there just is not the substantial audience that the live
performing arts need to keep healthy. Just as in the USA, where theatre
comes a very poor 2nd to the film and television industry, so also in
the UK there simply cannot be the nurturing and extension of the
audience for live performance that is the norm in most European
countries - and that is essential if writers and actors are to have
proper jobs and a decent level of audience recognition. The size of the
audience for live performance up and down the country in the UK is not
good for the profession of critic here either.
It is the view of many music section members that the current obsession
with prizes (both in the arts world and in sport and civic life) is all
to do with commercial promotion and consumerism, and very little to do
with the genuine long-term needs of the performing arts or the
potential excellence of performers. The centralisation of British
culture in London is also not good for the live performing arts. That's
why there is so little written in national newspapers about this
problem. The illusion has long been fostered that everything is lovely
in the garden. Declining provincial audiences and the disappearance of
the reps where actors used to learn their trade are issues not at all
on the horizon of most metropolitan critics.
The aims of the Music Section of the Critics' Circle are, to quote the
Circle's rulebook, a) to promote the art of criticism and to uphold its
integrity in practice; b) to foster and safeguard the professional
interests of its members and to provide opportunities for social
intercourse among them: and c) to support the advancement of the arts.
Though the Circle is decidedly not a trade union, it tries to encourage
best practice.
The music section from time to time has acted for its members in
connection with scales of fees for programme notes and magazine
articles. We have recently been concerned that some concert and opera
promoters have been trying to force members to sell their copyright for
fees that would previously have bought only "first serial rights".
Music critics tend to be among the least well paid in the Circle. They
really need repeat fees for re-use of programme notes they have penned.
We meet to discuss and decide bread and butter matters three times a year for about 90 minutes maximum.
Occasionally we hold meetings where a leading performer or a
concerthall or opera manager will answer questions from members about
their work. We also irregularly hold luncheons or dinners to celebrate
the lifetime achievement of some very special artist, writer, composer
or instrumentalist. During 2001 we held luncheons to mark the 75th
birthdays of both Jon Vickers and Dame Joan Sutherland at,
respectively, the English Garden restaurant in Chelsea and the Crush
Room of the Royal Opera House. Our most recent informal meeting in June
2002 was with the incoming music director of the Royal Opera, Antonio
Pappano, and his wife Pam - at the Art Workers' Guild in Queen Square,
London WC1. We plan to have similar useful encounters with the new ENO
boss Sean Doran, and the head of Opera Europa Nicholas Payne later in
2003.
The music section has about 80 members. It at present consists
overwhelmingly of classical music and opera critics, though we would
welcome as members critics of other kinds of music (jazz, pop, and
world music) if they want to join us.
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