Acclaimed baroque orchestra La Petite Bande will fold after spending cuts

From Janu­ary 2013 La Petite Bande will cease to have state fund­ing. The Neth­er­lands’ baroque orches­tra was formed in 1972 by Sigiswald Kuijken, but they say that the elim­in­a­tion of sub­sidy will mark the end of the orches­tra. Until this year annual fund­ing has been €575,000. It will now be €0.

Kuijken was aston­ished by the decision to turn down their application,

It is cer­tainly not my inten­tion to shout from the rooftops, we have defen­ded our pos­i­tion in this grant struggle with dig­nity, but I have no words for this decision, and I don’t under­stand the pos­i­tion of the com­mit­tee. We will now see how we can tackle the issues. I would like to thank every­one for their sup­port in recent weeks.

A peti­tion has been signed by more than 19,000 people in recent weeks, but noth­ing could sway the board’s decision.

Kuijken is cur­rently on tour with La Petite Bande in the United Kingdom.

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