Northern Ballet Sinfonia members launch campaign to keep the company's music live

Musicians in the Northern Ballet Sinfonia have been taking action ahead of performances of Beauty and the Beast in Nottingham this week (4 to 7 October) in an effort to prevent the replacement of some of their touring work with recordings.

Musicians’ Union (MU) members have been leafleting outside the Nottingham Theatre Royal ahead of Northern Ballet performances and wearing white t-shirts instead of their usual concert dress during the performance. They have also launched a petition calling on Arts Council England and Northern Ballet to keep Northern Ballet music live which currently has over 4,400 signatures.

MU orchestras official Morris Stemp said: ’It is unthinkable that Northern Ballet should be in a position to even consider using recorded music in place of a live orchestra during live performances. Whilst we appreciate that doing so is a last resort, our members are the product and an integral part of any ballet… We acknowledge that Northern Ballet has approached Arts Council England recently, without success thus far. We urge them to collectively find a solution to the funding shortfall. With costs related to touring an artform predicated on large numbers of artists soaring in the last two years particularly, inflation makes current funding levels unrealistic. It’s vital for all in society to have access to this incredible artform, with the dedicated live music as an integral part of the experience.’

According to the MU, some musicians in the Sinfonia are already relying on food banks to survive as, unlike other Northern Ballet workers, they are on freelance contracts instead of being salaried. Although Northern Ballet is in a difficult position due to a lack of funding increases since 2015 despite the UK’s current inflation and cost of living crisis, the MU argues that replacing musicians with a recording would be ‘an outrageous act of cultural vandalism’.

In a statement published on its website, Northern Ballet has said: 'We fully believe in the power and importance of live music and where we can, it will remain an integral part of our productions, but with deep regret we cannot maintain it at every venue. We are currently in discussion with the musicians, the Musicians' Union and Arts Council England to explore what a new touring model could look like for Northern Ballet.'