Twin orchestras ‘unjust, absurd’

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33966, 6 October 1975, Page 16

Twin orchestras ‘unjust, absurd’

The Canterbury Orchestra Trust was doing a job which the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra was capable of doing and willing to do, said the chairman of the C.S.O. board (Mr N. H. Buchanan) yesterday.

Mr Buchanan was commenting on a report in “The Press” on Saturday which said that the trust would have to import seven players to build its numbers to 41 for its first concert. “Our .orchestra is the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, and we see no reason why another orchestra should be established, and one which can only present concerts by importing players from outside Christchurch, and from as far away as Australia. I just cannot understand it,” said .Mr Buchanan. The trust had been established when local bodies were considering their expenditure for the year, and it had been stated that if a trust were set up, it would protect public funds, said Mr Buchanan.

“But what is now happening is that public money is being spent on importing players, which would not have been necessary if the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra had received continued grants,” he said. ‘DISGRACEFUL’ No players were under an exclusive contract to either orchestra. However, some members of the symphony orchestra refused to play for the trust “on principle,” said Mr Buchanan. “There are not two warring orchestras, just some players who on principle will not play for the trust,” said Mr Buchanan.

The chairman of the trust board (Mr E. J. Bradshaw) said last evening that Mr Buchanan and his supporters had been invited and urged on a number of occasions to join the trust to help in repairing the damage done to the Christchurch orchestral scene, “by the disgraceful wrangling of the last year or two.”

“This they have declined to do and clearly are determined to continue the strife to the bitter end. The engagement of players from outside Christchurch is nothing new. It has been done before many times in the past, and will no doubt be done many times in the future,” said Mr Bradshaw. Mr William Hennessy, an Australian violinist, was engaged because he was available for the October 15 concert. The other six imported players were necessary to provide a balance in the orchestra, said Mr Bradshaw. Mr Bradshaw said that the trust had bent over backwards to be patient with Mr Buchanan and his supporters.

“Inevitably the time must come when our patience will

be exhausted. If that time has not already arrived it is, I feel, very fast approaching,” he said. Mr Buchanan described having two orchestras in Christchurch, playing their own series of concerts, as “unjust, absurd, and wasteful.” SUPPORT A series of six subscription concerts had been planned by the symphony orchestra —the first of them in the James Hay Theatre on December 20. Mr Peter Swartz, of Wellington, would be musical director for the series, which would finish in August next year, said Mr Buchanan. Depriving the symphony orchestra of public funds had never been clearly explained, but many of the 400 members had promised financial support for the orchestra in the hope that the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council and local authorities might see reason, said Mr Buchanan.