DIRECTION OF TRAVEL BY THE EDITOR SSymphony Orchestra this month, used his most recent Barbican appearance to address the state of classical music and opera in the UK. ‘When the two largest he said of Arts Council England and the BBC, ‘it means that the direction of travel has cannot just quietly acquiesce to the dismantling or dismembering of so many important companies.’ As for those cheery press releases spewed out by ACE and the BBC, he warned: ‘Orwell will recognize the language: “Refresh the administration” and “reimagine the art form”. They are two bits of “newspeak” which mean the opposite of the actual words.’ Around the same time, the Royal Opera’s season announcement (see Coming Events, war designed to appease the gaslit uplands. And thinking historically, it’s sobering that if Wagner was making his famous voyage to London today, the stowaway economic migrant National Opera and other British companies appear safer than last winter, but they are not yet saved. A more concentrated lobbying campaign is still needed since nobody really trusts ACE or the BBC—indeed the BBC Singers and its orchestral players can expect renewed uncertainty when the Proms are over. These supposedly politically independent bodies now function under government control, and it’s grimly ironic that a favourite candidate to succeed Richard Sharp, the disgraced former BBC chairman, is ACE’s chairman Nicholas Serota. Hasn’t he done enough harm already? But let’s not give in to gloom: the direction of travel can still be reversed, at least if artists abroad as quickly as possible’—earlier this year by the tenor David Butt Philip still stands, Carey Jones, blogging in favour of a ‘freelancers’ arts council’. After all, almost everyone is what funding there is channelled through companies. As for the organizations, where are the good models of advocacy? Alas, the ‘industry’ is fragmented, hierarchical and Orchestras—so potential lobbyists ought to be taking inspiration from the consensus Nicholas Payne built at Opera Europa. And who should lead this lobby? Being based in Germany might disqualify Rattle, but there are other conductors, composers, directors Connolly, to name a few—behind whom everyone could unite. Opera, June 2023 645