BBC on ‘march to the bottom’, warns US composer

Broadcaster ‘lopping off its fingers one by one’ with decision to disband its 99-year-old chamber choir

AMERICANS believe the BBC is on a “march to the bottom”, a leading US composer has warned.

John Adams, who has conducted orchestras including the New York Philharmonic and London Symphony, spoke out after the corporation announced it was disbanding the BBC Singers, the UK’s only full-time professional chamber choir.

The ensemble, founded in 1924, will break up this year, with 20 job losses.

Adams wrote in a letter posted on social media: “For all my life, the BBC has been the go-to access for its phenomenal orchestras and choruses; its commitment to opera and new music ensembles; and for providing a platform for generations of brilliant and imaginative composers. But now we Americans hear only the worst stories from the UK, as if the country is on a determined selfdestruct freefall.

“The BBC now apparently wants to join the march to the bottom by cutting its invaluable institutions.

“Like the crazed character in the movie The Banshees of Inisherin, it is determined to lop off its own fingers, one by one.”

The BBC decision to drop its 99-yearold in-house choir has sparked outrage from some of Britain’s biggest names in music. An open letter compiled by John Weeks, a composer, expressing the industry’s “shock and dismay” has been signed by more than 800 musicians.

The letter describes the loss of the group as “devastating” for the future of choral music and asks the BBC to reconsider its decision.

Adams wrote: “I am honoured to add my name to this list of composers to ask the BBC to come to its senses and cease trashing the best thing it possesses.”

The disbanding of the BBC Singers is the latest recent controversy around the corporation.

It found itself embroiled in an impartiality row after Gary Lineker condemned the Government’s new Illegal Migration Bill on Twitter on March 7.

The BBC told the Match of the Day presenter to “step back” from his role because he had breached impartiality guidelines, although his agent said he had not broken any rules.

After colleagues walked out in support, wiping out much of last weekend’s BBC football, Lineker was reinstated.

Then Fiona Bruce, the Question Time host, was forced to stand down from a domestic violence charity over comments about Stanley Johnson, the father of Boris Johnson, on the programme.

A BBC spokesman said: “For us to continue to be a leading force in the industry we need to modernise, making some necessary and difficult changes.

“Whilst some may disagree with the tough decisions we’ve had to make in what are financially challenging times, we have developed the classical strategy carefully and diligently.”