We have received a statement claiming to represent 123 musicians of the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestras.
It reads:
We, musicians of the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestras (MCO) are deeply saddened to learn that our founder and Artistic Director, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, will not be returning to the organisation.
Contrary to recent suggestions in the press, we have no desire to sever ties with John Eliot. A recent poll of 173 of our musicians indicated 96% support for his return to conducting us. We fully uphold MCO’s commitment to hold John Eliot accountable for his actions and create a safe working environment, but we believe that this was achievable with him returning to the helm.
Our Board and Management have successfully allowed us to fulfil engagements over a challenging eleven months and we are grateful to the conductors who have worked with us during that period. However, we regret that, while implementing policy designed to ensure dignity and respect in the workplace, the views of musicians were ignored.
We extend our heartfelt gratitude to John Eliot for over sixty years of extraordinary music-making and look forward to many more opportunities to join him in the future.
Kati Debretzeni – Leader, English Baroque Soloists representative
Alex Ashworth – Baritone, Monteverdi Choir representative
Marten Root – Principal Flute, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique representative
and 120 Musicians of the MCO.
The numbers here are slightly confusing. There are around 400 freelance musicians presently on the books of the MCO. Kati Debretzni (pictured), whose name is at the head of the petition, has announced that she is sending in a letter of resignation. Marten Root is based in the Netherlands.
What we are seeing is a tussle between pro-JEG and anti-JEG musicians, with the overall majority probably neutral.
UPDATE: We’ve received this reponse from the MCO, claiming a dirty tricks campaign:
We question the authenticity of, or true support for, the claims made by three musicians, two of whom have resigned from the ensemble and have been canvassing for support for disruptive acts of sabotage which are not reflective of our community of passionate and talented players.
This statement feels like part of a dirty tricks campaign against the MCO by a small group, who have been undermining the organisation for some time and who seemingly do not accept the decision that the MCO Board had to make last week, tackling a problem not of its own making and driven by our commitments to uphold the necessary standards of fairness, inclusion and safety for all our people, audiences and stakeholders. Our resolve on this matter is strengthened by the sad attempts by a small group to undermine our people and our organisation.
We have held open meetings with our players for some time and the vast majority of our 360 musicians have had expressed overwhelming support for the difficult but right decision we had to make last week.
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