British Musicians Are Already Feeling the Pinch From Brexit
Suddenly, mountains of paperwork and spiraling fees for European tours are forcing musicians to reconsider life in the U.K.
The Albion Quartet playing Mozart String Quartet in D major 'Prussian'
Photographer: Patrick Allen
In 2010, Jonathan Clarke left his job as the principal trumpeter of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra to become a U.K.-based freelancer. He reasoned that high-paying gigs in Europe every year, plus the odd concert in his native Britain, would be enough to cover the bills.
And for a decade it did. “I left a major job to be a freelancer,” Clarke explains. “I wanted my children to grow up in Europe, and I wanted to be part of EU culture and concert halls, and thank God I had time to before Brexit.”