Musicians from the London Chamber Orchestra walked out of a rehearsal in protest over payment delays last Wednesday. Many of the orchestra's musicians were left disgruntled by their treatment from the orchestra over the past five months, during which time none of them had received payment for their work.
Musicians had to be sought from elsewhere to ensure the evening concert at London's Cadogan Hall still went ahead under the baton of music director Christopher Warren-Green. Horn player Ben Goldscheider joined the orchestra in the London premiere of Gavin Higgins's new Horn Concerto, along with Mozart's Horn Concerto No. 4, Sibelius's Symphony No. 5 and Elizabeth Machonchy's Music for Strings.
'It is a real battle working as a profession in this city now,' an LCO musician told the Observer. 'We are not paid much and so have to do other jobs, while also keeping up out hours of playing. So we certainly need to be paid when we do work.'
The managing director of the orchestra, Jocelyn Lightfoot, has told the Observer that overdue payments were made last week, and the issues were due to a decision by the orchestra's bank to freeze its account. This is a problem that has affected other organisations and venues, including St John's Smith Square. 'We kept the musicians informed during this period that their payment would go out as soon as the account was reopened,' Lightfoot told the Observer. 'But as the timeline of the reopening was further delayed many times, it was difficult to provide musicians with a clear timeframe. We understand the monumental strain on this body of freelancers whose opportunities to work have been reduced and jeopardised due to sweeping cuts to orchestral funding. There is great cause for concern that these highly skilled, immensely talented players whose role and value in society is under-appreciated.'
A Barclays Bank spokesperson told the Observer, 'We take the protection of our customers’ funds and data extremely seriously. As part of our ongoing responsibility to help prevent financial crime and to meet our regulatory responsibilities, we are required to ensure we hold up-to-date information regarding our customers’ accounts. Customers are also required to inform the bank in a timely manner of any change to their legal status relating to their business, charity or trust.'
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