Merging DR's ensembles and the Royal Theatre will turn music lovers into losers
The Minister of Culture and the Danish People's Party have different ideas about the future of DR's choirs and orchestras and their base, Koncerthuset. It makes interesting reading for the Friends of DR's 3,000 members, dedicated and active users of the music and song that the choirs and orchestras produce. Unfortunately, significant parts of the assumptions behind the politicians' deliberations are outright wrong, just as the most important starting point - art and the communication of it to the Danes - is missing from their thinking.
The parliamentary politicians behind the ideas are all at once announcing that this is not a punitive action against DR following the closure of the DR Entertainment Orchestra, which DR decided in the wake of the same politicians' cut in funding in the current media agreement. So far, so good about the thoughts from Borgen.
But in the new ideas and proposals, DR's choirs and orchestras are thoroughly mixed up in two completely unrelated issues: the Royal Theatre's crisis and the poor finances of the regional orchestras. This happens at the same time as the minister and the parties announce that this is not a cost-cutting exercise, but a redistribution of resources. This is where the film really breaks.
DR's choirs and orchestras, with the DR Symphony Orchestra as the flagship, have reached an artistic peak in recent years. A level that has made it possible to attract some of the greatest artists in the world. Just think of the orchestra's chief conductor Fabio Luisi, who divides his time between the elite opera theatres Metropolitan in the US, the Zurich Opera and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra in Denmark. Or Marcus Creed, Chief Conductor of the Danish National Vocal Ensemble, who is also a top name in his field. They both prioritised the DR choir and orchestra among many offers because of the unique artistic environment created through many years of effort. As well as ideal rehearsal conditions in the same hall where the concerts are performed. To illustrate this, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra played a concert with its late former chief conductor Rafael Frübeck de Burgos - another star name on the podium in the Concert Hall - and with his Spanish compatriot Pepe Romero as guitar soloist. Go to Youtube and watch. Well over two million people around the world have clicked through to the concert with the Danish National Orchestra in the Concert Hall. This is the kind of exposure of Danish music that both the minister and the parliament's cultural politicians should be proud of and cherish.
Now the politicians say that it could just as easily take place under the auspices of the Royal Theatre. But it can't. The theatre's organisation is naturally geared towards what happens on stage. In other words, music for those who go to the Opera on Holmen or Gl. Scene in Copenhagen. With its relatively few touring exceptions, the Royal Theatre understandably has limited experience in communicating art outside the theatre in Copenhagen. At DR, on the other hand, recent years have seen an increasing integration of what can be heard in the Concert Hall's four halls on Amager and what listeners and viewers across the country can follow on DR's channels. Every year, DR's choirs and orchestras are featured in 500 TV and radio programmes on DR,. For example, the Thursday concerts are followed on the radio and often also on TV by an audience that easily exceeds the viewing figures on all channels other than DR1 and TV2's main channels.
This has happened because of the artistic level, but also because DR has consciously worked with, and found solutions to, the not uncomplicated rights that can make it possible to spread the art throughout the country, even though most of the live performances take place in Amager. In this context, consider the 250,000 audience members who are physically present every year, following one of DR's choirs and orchestras either in Copenhagen or on tour around the country. In 2016, one of DR's choirs and orchestras visited 47 different cities in Denmark with a live performance. And where, in addition, as many members of the Friends' Association attend rehearsals as are allowed in the auditorium. A great inspiration for them, but also for the musicians. This is an area where the Royal Danish Theatre has no similar expertise, for obvious reasons, as it is not part of the theatre's remit.
Add to this the fact that the Royal Danish Theatre is in deep crisis when it comes to audiences, finances and organisation, while DR's musical activities in recent years have become an increasingly well-functioning organisation both in terms of life in the concert halls and on air. The symphony orchestra records the music for major DR1 drama productions, the Big Band accompanies the finalists in X-Faktor, and the Vocal Ensemble performs in programmes as diverse as Aftenshowet and Deadline on DR2. DR Pigekoret can be heard almost daily on the airwaves. This only happens because DR's choirs and orchestras are physically, organisationally and in terms of content connected to the radio and TV production departments in DR-Byen.
This unique dissemination of great art across the country will not survive if content and finances have to be shared between two very different organisations. This is not to say that DR and the Royal Danish Theatre cannot collaborate fruitfully in many areas. It just needs to be done with respect for the fact that they are different organisations. A collaboration that already exists today. And the theatre has spoken nicely about the politicians' thoughts, but with the addition that the money must follow from DR to the theatre. And then it's just a matter of moving the money from one kind of public fund to another. When did anything fruitful come out of it?
The Minister of Culture has justified his thoughts by saying that most radio orchestras in Europe have become detached from the radio stations. This is simply wrong. On the contrary, the vast majority of radio stations in Europe have one or more ensembles attached to them. The BBC has many spread across the kingdom. Specifically, they are the exception that public service stations do not have one or more ensembles attached. Perhaps the only example of disbanded radio orchestras is Belgium, oddly enough linked to the country's language dispute and the resulting split between radio and TV stations. Five out of six musicians on radio stations in Europe are employed by the radio station, the rest are freelancers. Only in the Czech Republic, Croatia and Latvia are musicians and singers not employed by the European equivalent of DR.
Are there examples of symphony orchestras and choirs that perform both concerts and theatre/opera under the same roof? Yes, there are in Berlin and Dresden, for example. But what they have in common is that they have spent well over a hundred years designing the roof and the art on it. That kind of thing takes a very long time to build up, while the artistic can be broken down in a short time through experiments born on spreadsheets that don't count the ”minuses”.
Can politicians protect themselves against DR using cost-cutting requirements in an upcoming media agreement to weaken the success of live music? Absolutely. Politicians can just say that this is how it should be when they adopt the media agreement and the contract with DR. Then DR will just have to comply with the owners' wishes.
Can politicians promote the regional orchestras through this exercise? No, not if they want to maintain Denmark's largest and most widespread producer of music and song at the highest artistic level in the country, as is the case with DR's choirs and orchestras. Therefore, there is no reason to involve the Concert Hall and its ensembles in this matter.
Can savings be achieved by merging DR Koncerthuset and its activities with those of the Royal Danish Theatre? Still not if you want to safeguard the artistic level. Just as it is utopian that a 100 metre champion can win a marathon and vice versa, it is also against our better judgement to imagine that a symphony orchestra and a vocal ensemble with very different working methods, artistic expressions and rehearsal processes can achieve any benefits by working under the same roof.
Can the citizens in other parts of Denmark benefit from the ”manding” of the four regional orchestras that politicians are planning instead of the current five? Only if DR provides it through the transmissions that have increased in recent years.
And when it comes to administration, DR's organisation has been streamlined over the past four years from small administrative units for each ensemble to a unified organisation specialising in communicating art across the country through broadcasting in a digital age.
Can DR become smaller by moving music and the Concert Hall and ensembles to Holmen in Copenhagen? In principle yes, but in practice no. The criticism of DR for exercising unfair competition, which has been levelled by the daily press, focuses on online activities. To our knowledge, DR has never been criticised for dominating the music world... Think about it, politicians.
Danish music lovers won't get more for their money with what's currently planned. They will get less. Whether they live in Rønne, Roskilde or Ringkøbing.
Friends of DR's Choirs and Orchestras