“Leading figures in classical music say many highly trained orchestral musicians are giving up on music as they face homelessness and hunger this autumn,” writes Vanessa Thorpe in Sunday’s (10/25) Guardian (U.K.). “Conductor Sir Simon Rattle warned that an ‘exodus is happening right now,’ while top English soloists the violinist Tasmin Little and the pianist Stephen Hough both spoke of despair and desperation among even successful performers…. Little suggests, it will be heralding the end of Britain’s celebrated musical culture if there is no rescue for thousands of professional freelance musicians without work…. Earlier this month, leading orchestras and music festivals received a first government bailout grant, including Rattle’s London Symphony Orchestra. But there is renewed concern that the majority of musicians who are freelancers have no safety net while only a few socially distanced concerts are staged.” Said Little, “A huge percentage of us now have no work and yet we all expect music to be everywhere around us, on the radio, on television and in films. And musicians create great value for this country in terms of culture and the wider economy.”
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