The Sky Arts television channel now appears to have captured the broadcast arts landscape. An arena the BBC would once have considered its own. The recent Sky Arts TV series Re-inventing the Orchestra with Charles Hazlewood was one of the most inspiring documentaries I have viewed in a long time. Charles Hazlewood is as far from the conventional image of an orchestral conductor as it is possible to get. A veritable gale of fresh air blown into a stuffy enclosed space.
Instead of erecting orchestral defences against the encroachment of the digital world and electronic instrumentation he appears to be in the process of tearing them down and embracing the opportunities and sounds that emerge. The second episode of Re-inventing the Orchestra explored why electronic instruments had not been embraced by orchestras. He then proceeded to demonstrate the potential synergies if they were to do so using his reinterpretation of an original Kraftwerk piece as the launching pad.
The third episode rattled further the bars of classical music tradition. Focusing on the uber-romantic songs of the 1970s singer/songwriter the late Barry White the episode illustrated how the orchestra was fundamental to White’s popular style and success and how, today, it continues to play a key role beyond classical music. This is not the first Hazlewood documentary offering such fresh insights into the world of music. In February 2021, Charles Hazlewood had marked the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth with the documentary Beethoven & Me which again showcased the considerable talents of the Bristol based Paraorchestra which he co-founded in 2011. Keeping in mind that filming for this had taken place in 2020 at the height of Covid’s rages the very creation of this documentary must have been an incredible logistical challenge. Charles Hazlewood has been Sky Art’s Ambassador for Music since January 2021 and is Artistic Director of Paraorchestra among many other things.
Paraorchestra is exemplary because in its own words it
“is the world’s only large-scale virtuoso ensemble of professional disabled and non-disabled musicians.”
https://paraorchestra.com/about/
The keywords here are: professional and virtuoso. Members of this orchestra are there because they are good at what they do. Very good. And that is all that matters. Charles Hazlewood spotted an issue, i.e. the paucity of disabled but exceptional musicians in orchestras. He set out to solve the organisational, attitudinal and physical challenges that resolving this would entail. Paraorchestra is testament to his success in making inclusivity and diversity more than mere words. Paraorchestra’s appearance twice at Glastonbury Festival illustrates how far into mainstream music they have penetrated. It’s also good that Paraorchestra is based outside London showing that regional initiatives can have national and international impact.
There’s not much more to say about all of this without it sounding like a hagiography which is not the intention. The only potential negative is that both Beethoven & Me and Re-inventing the Orchestra should be key resources in any school’s music curriculum – for those UK schools that still have such a curriculum that is. Used as a discussion point they have the potential to inspire even the most diehard rap/hip hop wannabe. Although the Sky Arts channel is available in the UK for real-time viewing on both terrestrial (Freeview) and satellite (Freesat), on-demand viewing normally requires a subscription which is what schools would require unless they have recorded the live transmission.
Sky Arts has a developing education programme linked with a number of partners and, so, with Charles Hazlewood as Sky Art’s Ambassador for Music, it will be interesting to see if his influence permeates the UK’s music education landscape. An educational landscape not as valued as it should be considering its potential for improving the nation’s health, as well as its wealth.