ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND’S RECENT funding round enticed an unprecedented 1,723 applications. If all of these had been granted, the total funding would have exceeded £2 billion.
Ultimately, £445 million was assigned to 985 organisations for the 2023-26 Investment Programme. It is noteworthy that 80 per cent of the funds allocated for music went to organisations involved in classical music, and nearly half of that is dedicated specifically to opera.
This focus is impressive given how few contemporary composers write opera. Since the twentieth century, new productions have seen a steep decline and the genre today is, for the most part, of limited interest to the young.
Urged to showcase the “impact” of classical music, the art managerial class is on the hunt for coping mechanisms. Some point to the reports that many students in Britain listen to orchestral background music as an aid to revising for exams. Others
