Education: Conservatoires

Lord Haskel Excerpts

Wednesday 10th October 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Haskel]

My Lords, what I found particularly interesting about the Olympics was the interviews. Without exception, the medal winners told us that their achievements were due to the individual and continuous support that they had—one-on-one support that enabled them to achieve such high standards in their sports. As my noble friend Lord Lipsey described, this is what conservatoires do for music.

Over the years, Aldeburgh Music has developed into a place where musicians can come for that one-on-one continuous professional support and training. Jonathan Reekie and his team provide support at every stage of development, starting with young musicians, going on to supporting musicians at conservatoires, continuing to support the emerging professionals through the Britten-Pears young artist programme—which is, incidentally, the largest in the UK—and going on to master classes and residences for accomplished musicians who want to do better. Its sense of mission for continuous improvement, even for the most accomplished musicians, makes it one of our most valuable institutions for encouraging and developing talent—and, of course, Aldeburgh is a lovely place to be.

This is not special pleading for Aldeburgh. What I am pleading for is recognition that maximising human development and talent through institutions such as conservatoires and Aldeburgh is expensive, but it is the only plausible strategy for winning gold medals in the future for our music and for its contribution to our culture, our society, our economy and to feeling good about ourselves. That is why they should have proper financial support.