So, classical music is about to be transformed (‘Acoustically perfect’: plans revealed for new £288m London concert hall, 22 January). Or in other words, the capital is about to benefit from an elitist project, blessed by luminary Sir Simon Rattle. No matter that London already possesses the Barbican, the Royal Festival Hall, the Cadogan Hall and the Royal Albert Hall. We need to make a statement to compete with Hamburg, Paris and Los Angeles.
Have Sir Simon and his backers not paused for a moment to consider the sorry state of music education in our schools, and how much more would be achieved by directing that money into music education? It is hard to see this venture as anything more than a vanity project for London and the elite, while music educators up and down the country are searching for scraps.
Dr Michael Quigley
Cambridge
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