Message from the conductor Hilary Davan Wetton:
Browsing gently – as one does – through the Church Times’ “Organists required” Column, I come upon an advertisement from St Pancras Parish Church in the Euston Road. They seek a ‘highly skilled Director, organist and pianist’. The redoubtable Christopher Bowers-Broadbent did fine work here – so I read the Job Specification with interest. They offer only a temporary contract until January 2027, and the workload is substantial, including no less than 15 separate tasks in the core specification. There is no mention of any Administrative or Librarian support and the musical requirements imply a cross between Mozart and the Angel Gabriel. The annual salary for all this (which will clearly be close to a half-time job) is £10k.
What is the matter with the C of E? Do they have any idea how few really good musicians now want to be permanent church organists? As if the appalling record of Winchester and Sheffield Cathedrals’ treatment of their Organists were not enough to dissuade a young musician from seeking a church post, salaries that flirt with the Minimum Wage are disgraceful rewards for talented people who have studied at the highest level for perhaps 5 years. And pension provision? Travel expenses? An annual allowance for enlarging the organist’s repertoire of organ music? I fear not.
I write this more in sorrow than in anger, but any sensible young organist would be wise to prefer a post in an Independent School or an Oxbridge College to any Church rôle. The C of E really does need to begin to treat its musicians with proper care and respect and not use them as slave labour. Sadly the RSCM does not seem to be proclaiming this as one might hope it would, so change does not look to come any time soon!
So true.
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.png?w=670&resize=670,446&ssl=1 "A destroyed and partially rebuilt city - Sven Helbig’s 'Requiem A' receives its UK Premiere at Central Hall Westminster")
