London Chamber Orchestra musicians opposite Christopher Warren-Green walked out during a rehearsal last Wednesday, Jan. 7, right before their concert performance at Chelsea's Cadogan Hall.
The decision of over half of the entire ensemble to "jump ship" stemmed from five months of payment delays and left them unsatisfied and thus prompted the act of "protest," as per The Guardian.
The orchestra then struggled to fill in the vacated seats left by the musicians due to the short notice, however, they were able to continue the concert at the Chelsea venue in the end.
How the Payment Delays Transpired at the London Chamber Orchestra
In an interview with the Observer, as quoted by The Guardian, one of the LCO musicians who walked out of the rehearsal expressed their dissatisfaction with not being paid, saying that it is already difficult enough due to the meager pay for a musician.
"So we certainly need to be paid when we do work," they added.
Jocelyn Lightfoot, Managing Director for the LCO, told the Observer that the overdue payments were already fulfilled last week.
She also explained that the trouble came after Barclays Bank, which LCO uses for all their employee-related payments, "suddenly" froze the orchestra's account "with no prior warning."
Such a decision from the bank was also felt by other collectives and organizations, most of which reside in the cultural and religious sector, including the St. John's Smith Square venue.
The freezing was reportedly due to the bank's safety measures against financial crime, which require its clients to update and provide the requested information to continue the active status of the customers' accounts.
As per Lightfoot, reopening the bank account took over four months of effort, during which time they maintained a communication line between the orchestra and the musicians regarding the late payments, saying that it would be fulfilled "as soon as the account reopened."
That said, Lightfoot said that the repeatedly delayed timeline of payments made it "difficult to provide musicians with a clear timeframe."
According to her, the LCO understands the plight and disappointment the musicians have expressed as many of said musicians are still managing the damage suffered during Brexit and the recent COVID-19 pandemic.
Barclays has since released a statement through its spokesperson, saying, "We take the protection of our customers' funds and data extremely seriously."
"As part of our ongoing responsibility to help prevent financial crime and to meet our regulatory responsibilities, we are required to ensure we hold up-to-date information regarding our customers' accounts," it added.
