On the beat

News and events from around the world this month

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Road to nowhere? 

Touring to Europe is about to become even more difficult for UK ensembles, now that Orchestra Tax Relief from the government will no longer be an option

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra’s tour truck

COURTESY CBSO

British orchestras already burdened by extra costs and administration due to Brexit now face the prospect of not being able to claim tax relief on performances in the European Economic Area (the EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway). From 1 April the UK government is set to make EEA expenditure ineligible for Orchestra Tax Relief (OTR). The government says that narrowing the OTR qualifying criteria to just UK-based activities is necessary to comply with World Trade Organization rules, now that the UK is no longer part of the EU single market.

OTR was introduced in 2016 to support live orchestral performances. It allows orchestras to claim tax relief on their production costs and reduce their corporation tax bill if they make a profit or receive a tax credit if they make a loss. OTR can be worth up to 20 per cent of an orchestra’s core production costs, and between 2016 and 2022 a total of £75m was paid out in OTR claims. The headline OTR rate was doubled in October 2021 to 50 percent, and the government extended this uplift for two years from 2023 to 2025 to help the sector recover post-Covid. The rate is due to taper down from April 2025, reducing to 35 per cent and then, from April 2026, returning to the original 25 per cent.

Hanna Madalska-Gayer, the head of policy and communications at the Association of British Orchestras (ABO), says that for UK orchestras that tour to the EEA, the amount that they can claim through OTR almost always outstrips the cost of other Brexit impacts, such as obtaining ATA Carnets for instruments and equipment, and the cabotage requirements for transporting instruments and equipment by lorry. ‘Cabotage can cost some orchestras £30,000 just for hiring a truck for a European tour, or £16,000 a day when you factor in costs such as waiting for a van to go back and forth to the UK, or having musicians waiting in hotel rooms,’ says Madalska-Gayer. ‘But the OTR element can run into hundreds of thousands of pounds on EEA touring. For orchestras that tour to the EEA extensively, the income is significant because it supports activity elsewhere, including in the UK. Earnings lost from not being able to claim relief on touring costs incurred in the EEA could include fees that would have been paid out to UK freelance musicians, for example, or income that would have gone into funding UK community projects.’

The Musicians Union (MU) is also concerned that the change to EEA eligibility for OTR will be another hit to orchestras’ bottom lines, and a threat to musicians’ pay and conditions. MU assistant general secretary Phil Kear says: ‘Increasingly, orchestras in the UK are finding huge pressure on their finances due to the lack of increase in arts funding when compared with inflation and the significant increases in their supply chain costs. Anything like this OTR change, which further increases the financial pressure on orchestras, is likely to see us struggle even more to achieve rates of pay and conditions for our members that keep pace with the cost of living. In some cases it could potentially result in further instances of redundancies or orchestras being forced out of business altogether.’

‘EU touring is more challenging than it was pre-Covid’

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO), which toured Germany and Switzerland in October 2023 and will tour on the continent again this month, is among the big UK orchestras to benefit significantly from OTR. The CBSO director of finances and resources Sally Munday says: ‘OTR makes an enormous contribution overall to the operation of the orchestra. At the current 50 percent rate, we’re reclaiming tax relief to the tune of £2.5m a year, in the context of a total turnover of £11m.’ The removal of EEA eligibility for OTR will have consequences for the orchestra, she adds: ‘I don’t believe it would affect our artistic decision whether to tour in Europe or not, but financially it would mean we would have to make cutbacks or savings in other areas. Part of what OTR has enabled the CBSO to do is create pioneering work, diversify our output and reach wider audiences.’

Having campaigned successfully for the OTR uplift in 2023, the ABO is pressing the government to maintain the 50 per cent rate beyond 2025. ‘Sustaining the uplifted rate permanently is what the sector needs, and is what we’ve been pushing for since the day it was extended,’ says Gadalska-Mayer. ‘Keeping the rate at 50 per cent would more than help mitigate the effects of making EEA expenditure ineligible for relief.’ Tom Kiehl, interim chief executive of UK Music, echoes this call to make the OTR extension permanent. ‘Post-Covid, orchestras can tour and perform again, but we are now operating in a different environment,’ he says. ‘That’s partly because EU touring is more challenging than it was pre-Covid. And this alone is surely an argument that we shouldn’t revert back to previous levels of OTR.’

In 2019 ABO member orchestras made 150 visits to 22 different EEA countries. The organisation is researching data on international touring post-Covid to establish a more up-to-date picture of European touring, but Madalska-Gayer says: ‘Throughout the post-Brexit period, UK orchestras have shown incredible resilience. New rules and processes have meant extra costs and administrative burdens for orchestras, but EU touring has not stopped.’ Faced, however, with those increased costs of undertaking tours in Europe, along with wider economic challenges, UK orchestras will be hoping that the 50 per cent OTR rate continues beyond April 2025.

COURTESY FEDOR RUDIN

NEWS IN BRIEF

Fedor Rudin loaned 1712

Stradivari bit.ly/49gAWfn

Violinist Fedor Rudin (left) has been loaned the 1712 ‘ex-Viotti’ Stradivari violin from Groupe Canimex. The loan marks the end of his relationship with his previous instrument, a 1779 Storioni violin loaned by the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben. ‘Although I will miss this violin greatly, I am very grateful to the Groupe Canimex for recently loaning me another incredible instrument,’ Rudin said on social media.

Double bass smashed beyond repair by Qantas Airways bit.ly/3OfXa8VAustralian double bassist Mark Elton has reported that his instrument has been smashed beyond repair in transit from Melbourne to Perth via Qantas Airways. According to Elton, he only became aware of the damage after opening his flight case on arrival, and argues that the airline should have notified him of any accidents, in addition to issuing an apology. ‘After many years of being a club member and choosing to fly with Qantas I’m hoping you’ll support me through this major emotional & financial setback,’ he posted on Instagram.

Violinist Dmitry Sitkovetsky joins the Purcell School as a patron bit.ly/4bhyvdYThe Purcell School has announced violinist, conductor and transcriber Dmitry Sitkovetsky as its newest patron. ‘It marks a new chapter in my professional life – a chance to share my good fortune of having grown up with the giants of the music world,’ Sitkovetsky commented on his appointment.

Do you have a topical story concerning the string music world? Email us at thestrad@thestrad.com

OBITUARIES

MARCEL SAINT-CYR

Canadian cellist Marcel Saint-Cyr died on 30 December at the age of 85. A prominent chamber musician and teacher, he played a crucial role in the growth of chamber music in Canada, notably as a member of the Orford Quartet.

Saint-Cyr was born in Quebec City on 20 May 1938. He studied cello with Lucien Plamondon and Walter Joachim and continued his studies in Europe with André Navarra, Leo Koscielny, Paul Tortelier, Enrico Mainardi and in the US with Leonard Rose. He also played the viola da gamba and baryton.

Saint-Cyr was a founding member of the Orford Quartet in 1965, performing on six continents and more than 60 recordings before leaving in 1980.

As an educator, Saint-Cyr taught at the University of Toronto from 1968 to 1980 and the University of Montreal from 1981 to 1984, when he joined the faculty at McGill University. He led its chamber music department for over two decades and was greatly responsible for its growth. Saint-Cyr was also the cellist of the Franz Joseph Trio and served as the cellist of the Franz Joseph Quartet of Montreal.

TUOMO HAAPANEN

Finnish violinist, tutor and conductor Tuomo Haapanen died on 8 January aged 99. Serving as a violin professor emeritus at the Sibelius Academy, he was considered one of Finland’s leading violin pedagogues.

Haapanen was born in Helsinki on 29 December 1924. His father was Toivo Haapanen, the chief conductor of the Radio Symphony Orchestra. After initial piano studies, he took up the violin in the 1930s. He continued his violin studies at the Sibelius Academy from 1945 to 1948, becoming the first person in Finland to graduate with a violin diploma. He also studied in Paris with Léon Nauwinck and René Benedetti.

Haapanen played in the first violin section of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra for five years from 1953 and was second concertmaster from 1958 to 1962. He also served as concertmaster in the Helsinki Chamber Orchestra from 1951 to 1961.

Haapanen was the head violin teacher at the Turku Conservatory (formerly the Turku Music College) from 1962 to 1978, also serving as its principal from 1966. He began as violin professor at the Sibelius Academy in 1978 and became its principal in 1987. He conducted the Sibelius Academy Chamber Orchestra from 1981 to 1991.

Haapanen was the chairman of the Sibelius Competition from 1981 to 2001. He was awarded the Aksentti award of the Finnish Music Education Association in 1997 and the Finnish State Music Prize in 1999.

DEBORAH REEDER

US cellist Deborah Reeder died on 6 January at the age of 83. In 1971 she formed the Philadelphia Trio with violinist Barbara Sonies and pianist Elizabeth Keller, a group she performed with for decades, touring nationally and throughout Europe.

Born on 19 January 1940 in Pennsylvania, she attained her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music performance with a scholarship from the Philadelphia Musical Academy, now the University of the Arts Philadelphia. Her teachers included Lorne Munroe, Orlando Cole and Luigi Silva.

Reeder was a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1973 to 1979, and performed with the Philadelphia Ballet Orchestra, the Philadelphia Concerto Soloists, the American Society of Ancient Instruments and the Princeton Chamber Orchestra. She was principal cellist of the Mozart Society of Philadelphia and the Opera Company of Philadelphia, now Opera Philadelphia, and in 1961 became a founder member of the Amado Quartet.

As an educator, Reeder taught cello and chamber music at Temple University and the University of the Arts Philadelphia, plus many other music schools and privately.

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SIDNEY WEISS

Violinist Sidney Weiss died on 12 January aged 95. He served as concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for 15 years, and in the same role for five years at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO).

Born in 1928, Weiss was educated at Chicago Musical College and DePaul University. While a music student, he met his future wife Jeanne, a pianist, with whom he formed a violin–piano duo. They recorded Elgar and Walton violin sonatas, as well as the Mendelssohn and Haydn Double Concertos.

Weiss became concertmaster at the CSO in 1967. Alongside his orchestral role he performed extensively in the Weiss Duo in the US and on two European tours. In 1972 the pair moved to Europe to pursue their solo and duo-recital careers full-time.

In 1973 Weiss was appointed concertmaster of the Orchestre National de l’Opéra de Monte Carlo. He held the position until 1979, when he was invited to become the principal concertmaster with the LA Phil, a position he held until 1994. Jeanne Weiss died in July 2022. In addition to his violin playing, Weiss was also a violin and bow maker, and conductor of the Glendale Symphony Orchestra.

TSCHU HO LEE

Korean–US violin maker and educator Tschu Ho Lee died on 4 January in Chicago, IL, US, aged 91.

Lee was born in Seoul, South Korea, in 1932. He trained as a violinist and sculptor and eventually merged the two interests to become a violin maker. He studied at Mittenwald, Germany, in the 1960s and later worked for Josef Kantuscher.

Lee moved to Chicago in 1970 to work for Kenneth Warren & Son, and in 1980 became the director of the school now known as the Chicago School of Violin Making. He was appointed director emeritus in 2003 and made over 300 instruments.