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Conway Hall
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The unfinished Sunday night symphony
WAR drums are sounding in classical music land, with Euston Road the unlikely battleground, in a feud between two of the capital’s concert halls.
Concert organisers at Conway Hall have accused the London Chamber Music Society (LCMS), who played the prestigious Sunday evening slot at Conway Hall for more than 10 years before moving to the new Kings Place development in King’s Cross last autumn, of poaching their audience, plundering their history and even trying to swipe their £50,000 Bosendorfer grand piano.
At one point the Charity Commission was called in because they couldn’t conduct themselves, ruling the piano stay at Conway Hall in what has been dubbed the “unfinished symphony of the Euston Road”.
Every Sunday evening at 6.30pm, the two venues go flute to flute, both using the coveted “Sunday Concert” banner which has hosted the likes of Henry Wood, Frank Bridge and Samuel Taylor Coleridge in its 130-year history.
The South Place Ethical Society, which organises the Sunday concerts, first at South Place in the 1870s and then at Conway Hall from 1929, say the LCMS is cannibalising their ancestry by laying claim to a legacy that pre-dates its formation.
Giles Enders, chairman of trustees at the South Place Ethical Society, said: “We feel they left us in the lurch with hardly any notice. They are claiming our history. The Sunday Concert dates back hundreds of years, but on the London Chamber Music website, they claim Sir Henry Wood as part of their legacy. It’s simply not true. And they are still using the Sunday Concert name. They need the history so they can take our audience. ”
The entry on the LCMS website reads: “The superb new concert hall at Kings Place... opens an exciting new chapter for the London Chamber Music Society, which can trace its origins to the People’s Concert Society of Victorian London in the 1870s, the regular Sunday concerts that developed at South Place from 1887 and then the Conway Hall from 1929. The ... series has long been part of the musical life blood of London.”
The LCMS says they are entitled to a share of the Sunday Concert history. Walter Solomon, a trustee of the LCMS, said: “We don’t really know how the dispute started but it has been acrimonious for around 10 years. About three years ago, we had a phone call from the developer of Kings Place, saying they wanted us to be there when they opened. Conway Hall never knew about it and we kept it quiet because we thought we would get chucked out.
“We gave them a year’s notice, which we feel was a fair period. They asked us to settle up for the piano, which they kept. We then said we wouldn’t stand in Conway’s way if they wanted the name back [the LCMS had registered the name South Place Sunday Concert when they formed]. It’s up to them to figure out.
“On our website we say we can trace our history back to the 1870s. Why can’t we both share a history? The reason we went to Kings Place is because we were dying at Conway Hall. It’s a draughty old building, with a Victorian atmosphere and ageing audience. We wouldn’t have an audience left if we were still there. Now we’re getting a bigger and younger audience.”
The fallout has its origins in a split made around 12 years ago, when a breakaway sub-committee took over the running of the concerts from the South Place Ethical Society. They grew increasingly autonomous – eventually becoming the LCMS on the advice of the Charity Commission, who told them to form their own separate charity, which they did, registering the name “South Place Sunday Concerts”. Relations between the two groups soured, and since LCMS moved to Kings Place, the sniping has begun.
The South Place Ethical Society now has a new artistic director (Simon Callaghan from the Royal College of Music) and the Conway Hall Sunday Concert continues.
JAMIE WELHAM |
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