Alcohol striking a sour note with orchestras

Published on Saturday 28 February 2009 18:47

BINGE drinking is a huge problem among some of Britain's most prestigious orchestras with players regularly performing drunk, musicians have warned.

Bill Kerr, the orchestral organiser of the Musicians' Union, said there had been "regrettable incidents" involving alcohol and musicians drinking to overcome boredom and pre-performance nerves.

Speaking at the Association of British Orchestras' annual conference, he said musicians drank because they had few other distractions while waiting for performances, ranging from a pint to steady the nerves to full-blown inebriation on stage.

One incident involved one of the UK's most celebrated opera and ballet orchestras "and its heavy brass section", he revealed. "They should have been sacked really, but they would have been very hard to replace."

He explained that the players were involved in only one of three works being staged that night, and performed drunk.

Kerr added: "For musicians there can be so much captive time, a lot of time and not many distractions. Frequently the only place to go is the pub.

"For these musicians there wasn't anything for them to do, and it was a red rag to a bull. You might say they were grownups, but there was nowhere for them to go. They rebelled, it got out of hand. It's indefensible and reprehensible, but it's human nature," he claimed.

Another conference delegate recalled an incident in which a percussionist had fallen off the back of a high stage while drunk.

Chi-chi Nwanoku, a bass player with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, said that at a performance at Glyndebourne Opera House in East Sussex a colleague who was a recovering alcoholic started drinking at a period of great emotional strain.

Nwanoku said: "He was drinking and eating extra strong mints, but it didn't hide the smell. His playing got worse and worse and worse. I was trying to cover up for him."

There is little research into the prevalence of drinking among performing musicians so it is not known whether it has increased alongside alcohol use generally or has decreased and become more socially unacceptable, like drink driving.

Some performers say there has been a gradual culture change from times when bars in venues were open before, during and after performances. That has now diminished as employers have become more aware of health and safety issues.

But Nwanoku said the fear is that the problem has become more hidden, while others point to the use of beta blockers instead of alcohol to cope with pre-performance anxiety.

Experts say stage fright is one of the main reasons musicians drink alcohol before a performance, while group culture is another. Anecdotally brass players drink more than other sections of the orchestra.