January 8, 2025
Athens, GR 16 C
Expand search form
Blog

Wales 2025: The Land Without Music

Wales 2025: The Land Without  Music
Welsh National Opera yesterday inducted two new artistic directors in the hope of digging itself out of a deepening hole. Arts Council England has abolished its touring grant and Wales will not make up the shortfall.
Cardiff, the capital, has meanwhile shuttered its concert hall for the indefinite future.
Conductor Kenneth Woods reports from a land that is losing its music:
Musicians here in Cardiff are putting their homes on the market while Welsh National Opera shrinks daily and St Davids Hall, the NATIONAL concert hall of Wales, sits empty and derelict, with no progress on repairs in nearly 2 years.
This happened under a Welsh Labour Government. Blaming the Tories won’t cut it – what’s the point of devolution if you don’t take responsibility for protecting your own cultural heritage? The national conservatoire ditched their pre-college programme this summer and made dozens of fine teachers redundant.
It’s sadly typical of the #Artspocalypse unfolding in communities all over the UK. Why are @uklabour so slow to act when arts organisations and arts education are crumbling in real time. We don’t have years to wait for task force results and white papers. We need urgent action and emergency funding. And serious reform of our system of funding the arts.
The country that gave the world Richard Burton, Michael Sheen, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Jonathan Pryce has killed off the National Theatre Wales. It’s industrial scale neglect bordering on overt intentional destruction.

The post Wales 2025: The Land Without Music appeared first on Slippedisc.

Previous Article

Idomeneo in Amsterdam: Lawrence Cummings joins forces with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui for a new production of Mozart’s first mature opera

Next Article

NY drum legend, dead at 49

You might be interested in …

Rome books Netrebko

Rome books Netrebko

The Russian state agency Tass reports that Anna Netrebko will star in a new Tosca production in Rome on January 14. The date and place are freighted with significance. Tosca received its premiere on January […]