Petroc Trelawney has narrated this article for you to listen to.
A pang of melancholy as I detach the Royal Albert Hall pass from my BBC lanyard. I had a similar feeling late on Saturday night as I watched our team of engineers start to take down the hundreds of microphones that have enabled us to broadcast the Proms live each night on Radio 3. It has been a remarkable two months of music-making. The last season was curtailed by the death of the Queen; Covid infected the mood and scale of the 2020 and 2021 festivals. This time around, from my eyrie in the radio commentary box at the back of the side stalls, or the television studio high up in the gallery, there was a sense of a fresh start. On the Last Night the BBC Singers got the loudest applause. They were absent from the Proms Guide, as their future was in doubt when the season was launched back in April.
Last Night European Union flag-waving once again provided meat to newspaper columnists and correspondents. Post-Brexit restrictions on freedom of movement around the EU continue to hamper work opportunities for British musicians. The singers, conductors, instrumentalists and promoters I have spoken to are delighted that the new shadow culture secretary, Thangam Debbonaire, has promised to fight for a visa waiver scheme for touring artists. There have been 12 Conservative culture secretaries in 13 years, some more passionate about their brief than others – but this succession of quick cast changes has hardly offered a ringing endorsement of the party’s belief in the importance of the arts. The appointment of Debbonaire, a cellist who studied at Chetham’s – Manchester’s prestigious music school – and the Royal College of Music, suggests there may be a more sympathetic response to those working in the arts should Labour be elected to power.
Britain is still a member of the European Broadcasting Union.
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