Failing directors stay put, the Supervisory Board disqualifies itself. No other conclusion is possible after reading the counter-expertise commissioned by the province of Overijssel and carried out by Berenschot. The provincial millions intended to make the orchestra subsidy-independent have not only evaporated, but show a negative balance in every area. Every estimate was too optimistic, warnings were ignored and the future plan is not realistic either. Reconstruction here, consequence here.
"If the orchestra wants to enter the new culture note period and gain trust from key partners, we see that there is no more room for ambitions."
It literally says.
Elsewhere in the report, we read again that the orchestra should immediately abandon national and international ambitions to focus purely on the region. If that is still feasible, because a merger with the Netherlands Reisopera will yield nothing, neither will a merger with Enschede's Music Centre, while the most logical option, a merger with Het Gelders Orkest, is politically unfeasible: this report appears just after the ground rules for the BIS have been established.
Remain mostly very painful options, with the extremes being:
"Variant A5. 0% permanent formation: no musicians employed, all budget is for hiring. This is called a project orchestra, also known as a card box orchestra."
"Variant D. Stop."
Continuing on the current path is not possible anyway, any more than director Harm Mannak can stay on: "Interviews with three members of the Supervisory Boards revealed little confidence in the current version of the plan. The agenda is once again (too) ambitious and lessons from the near past do not seem to have been learned."
Remarkably, for the time being, HET Symfonieorkest is insisting to the outside world that nothing is wrong and that the director's departure is completely voluntary. Indeed, he is simply staying on until a successor is found.
What is even sadder is that the province is trying to cover this report with the cloak of love. The Enschede culture councillor, who informed a council meeting less than a year ago that there was no reason to doubt the feasibility of HET Symphony Orchestra's plans, is acting as if his nose was bleeding.
And what about Berenschot and the Ministry, both of which recently cited THE Symphony Orchestra as an example for the sector? Not to mention dubious forms of self-enrichment, MPs who settle for demonstrably incorrect answers from the minister in charge but cheer when they get something done through lobbying, local newspapers that are only now waking up.
More on that, and on possible solutions, in the coming days. The fact is that musicians will be the main victims, in whatever solution.
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