Britain is losing star conductors, plans for a glittering venue have been dumped, Brexit is hurting. But our orchestras will play on
Realism has prevailed. The City of London Corporation has zipped the cash back into its roomy pockets and cancelled the proposed £288m Centre for Music. No one is surprised. To proceed after this past year would have been folly.
Simon Rattle, as music director of the London Symphony Orchestra and one of the few recognisable faces of classical music, was its chief figurehead. He neither came to London because of a hall, nor is he departing because he can’t have it. That he was appointed in 2015, a year before the Brexit vote and its unravelling, may be more pertinent.
