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Top orchestra leaves Britain for Antwerp over Brexit fears
A highly regarded British orchestra that trains young musicians is to leave its home in southern England to move to Antwerp, amid fears of the effect of Brexit on migration possibilities, the Guardian reports.
The European Union Baroque Orchestra was founded in 1985 and received funding from the EU’s cultural programme. It recruits 20 to 25 young musicians every year from about 100 who audition, and offers them intensive training and experience in performing under the guidance of music director Lars Ulrik Mortensen and an array of guest conductors.
The group, based in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, has also recorded four CDs and plays in concert halls and at summer festivals across Europe.
According to general manager Emma Wilkinson, the move to Antwerp at this time is “wise” while uncertainty remains over the effects of Brexit on EU citizens living in the UK. The British government has so far refused to give a clear assurance that they will be able to stay after the country leaves the EU.
“I do worry that European orchestras will not be inviting talented British musicians to work with them,” Wilkinson told the paper. “It will just be too bureaucratically difficult.”
The paper also reports that the European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO) is making its own contingency plans to move to the EU mainland if necessary. The orchestra has been based in London since it was created in 1976.
“If we do land with a hard Brexit, it is really difficult to see how British musicians will be able to continue to take advantage of the opportunities that the EUYO and other EU initiatives have been able to offer generations of European musicians,” chief executive Marshall Marcus is quoted as saying.
Photo courtesy European Union Baroque Orchestra
Comments
What crap. No country is going to start throwing residents out. And why does Leuven have so many US students?
Actually Mike1300GT many U.K. universities have also repotetf a fall in the number of applicants from Europe and the international schools have I'm told seen a slight decline in those opting for the UK as a destination. I think people also feel they maybe the victim of discrimation and as it clearly says the uncertainty has to be having an adverse effect. However that is what happens when you allow people who don't understand what they are actually voting for to make a protest vote
Yes, we allowed the ignorant peasants a vote. I know it's not something the EU elite like very much.Yes of course, the only ones with a clue are pro EU! If people are so stupid as to believe there is going to be a mass expulsion of continentals from the UK, the UK probably does not need people that stupid. Thank you for showing the arrogance that lwad to this vote result in the first place.