A message from Nicholas Collon
18 March 2020
In the midst of the profound upheavals affecting the whole of our society at present, all of us at Aurora send our thoughts and good wishes to you and to our audiences everywhere.
This week should have seen the launch of an Aurora tour that was to have taken us to venues across the UK and internationally. We’re devastated not to be able to share this wonderful programme with you, not least as our players have spent several weeks memorising Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony. But of course in these unprecedented times we must above all protect the health of our audiences, artists and staff, and in light of the latest government guidance it has become clear that we must place our entire performance programme on hold for the time being.
We can’t tell you yet when we’ll be back on the concert platform – we’re all sailing in uncharted waters just now, and the world of classical music which we all cherish deeply will be by no means the only sector to face extreme stresses over the coming months. There is no escaping the fact that the coronavirus epidemic represents an unprecedented challenge for our community: performers, venues and the staff who work behind the scenes face weeks or even months of cancellations and lost income.
But we’re determined to emerge from this crisis to deliver the thrilling live music which we are all desperate to see return to public life as soon as possible. Most immediately we’re working with our venue partners to do everything we can to reduce the immediate financial impact of this situation, for our players – who work with us on a freelance basis – and for the wider community of creative and office staff who make our artistic programme possible. We know you will have many other things to think about at the moment. If you are in a position to help us by making a donation we will be immensely grateful for your support, which can be given here.
We’re exploring all sorts of imaginative ways to keep closely in touch with you, so that we can still enjoy music together during this difficult period. If you haven’t already, I would encourage you to sign up to our e-newsletter and social channels to keep up to date with our plans. Do please keep in touch with us, we will love to hear from you.
I wanted to conclude this message with a little musical gift which gave me some much-needed solace this morning: a previously unreleased recording of Samuel Barber’s Sure on this Shining Night which we recorded in happier times a couple of years ago with Allan Clayton. We send it to you with our love.
Nicholas Collon
Principal Conductor, Aurora Orchestra