Notice board Why do our orchestras not attract bigger audiences?

● Free Highlight Talks continue at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, Alloway, at 2.30pm today, when Jennifer Smith, professor of sociolinguistics at Glasgow University, will talk on Mapping Scots In The 21st Century, considering how users of Scots, dialects of Scots and English with Scots variants structure sentences, phrases and words. Booking a free place via Eventbrite is advised.

● Believe in Scotland is holding its first-ever March and Rally for an Independent Scotland in Glasgow on Saturday, in partnership with Pensioners for Independence. Confirmed speakers include First Minister Humza Yousaf. See www.believeinscotland.org for more details. The Brechin Hub has arranged a 50-seater bus for the event, costing £10 per seat and calling at the towns in Angus and Broxden near Perth. Book by emailing dwsmart2@hotmail.co.uk. Edinburgh Women for Independence are joining the march and rally, meeting up at the information desk in Buchanan Street Bus Station and leaving at 11.30am sharp to join the march at Kelvingrove.

● Colin Fox's new book War And Peace In Ukraine: A Socialist Perspective, making the case for a negotiated political settlement to the conflict in Ukraine, will be launched at 7pm on Tuesday, April 23 in Words and Actions for Peace, 58 Ratcliffe Terrace, Edinburgh. All welcome. Signed copies of the book will be available on the night.

● Billy Kay will be talking about his new book Born in Kyle: A Love Letter tae an Ayrshire Childhood on Thursday, April 25 at the Lochgelly Centre in Fife, on Saturday, April 27 at the AK Bell Library in Perth, on Thursday, May 2 at Cupar Library in Fife, on Thursday, May 11 at the Boswell Book Festival in Ayrshire and on Wednesday, May 29 at Coldside Library, Dundee.

For more details visit www.billykay.scot

PATRICK Maxwell observes that classical music “is under threat”, partly because of government cuts and a lack of general public interest (Scottish orchestras are under-rated and neglected south of the Border, Apr 15). It’s certainly true that, in the UK, classical music and opera are not generally popular, often branded as highbrow and elitist and, perhaps as a result, deprived of state support.

Yet among the countries of Europe this lamentable state of affairs pertains only to the UK. In Berlin, for example, the total audience in 2023 for the Berlin Philharmonic was 241,770, with a seat occupancy of 86.4%. For Deutche Oper, it was 243,649 with exactly the same seat occupancy. Thousands of people also flocked to performances at the Konzerhaus, Statsoper, Komische Oper and the Berliner Ensemble.

How to account for this popularity of serious music? Obviously, an education system which supports it instead of, in the main, ignoring it. Moreover, European governments give generous support. A ticket for the Berlin Philharmonic is 50% subsidised. For Deutsche Oper, the subsidy is 80.4%. In Germany, every small city has its own opera house. Theatre is also heavily supported, to the point that in places like Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich you can see a different classic or modernist play every night of the week.

Countries like France, Italy the Netherlands, the Ukraine and Russia also think that classical music, opera and ballet are important enough to subsidise. In this regard, even a small country like Finland puts the UK to shame.

In 1983, I was fortunate enough to attend a double production of Stravinsky’s Firebird and Petrushka ballets at the Palace of Congresses in the Kremlin. The audience comprised thousands, due in part to the extremely low ticket prices.

Given these examples, it must be the case that serious music could potentially be as popular in Scotland and in the rest of the UK. All it would take for this to happen is strength of political and educational will. With regard to internationally renowned performers, Scotland already punches far above its weight, thanks to the like of Karen Cargill, Catriona Morison, Sir Donald Runnicles (above) and Nicola Benedetti. Think what it could do if people like Angus Robertson put their minds to it. Alastair McLeish Edinburgh