John Drummond (arts administrator)
Sir John Richard Gray Drummond
Early life
Drummond was born in London, the son of a Scottish
He was educated at
His contemporaries included
Career
In 1958, he gained a BBC general traineeship,
In 1964, he was part of the launch team for BBC 2, and he directed/produced arts programmes for BBC Television, including The Golden Ring, a documentary about Georg Solti's Decca recording of the complete Der Ring des Nibelungen (Ring Cycle) by Wagner, a biography of singer Kathleen Ferrier, programmes about Diaghilev, a series on architecture Spirit of the Age, and masterclasses by French cellist Paul Tortelier.[1] His interest in ballet and dance was reflected in many of the programmes he produced for the BBC, and he appeared as presenter in many of them.[7]
Ultimately he became Assistant Head of Music and Arts at the insistence of his immediate superior, Humphrey Burton,[4] before becoming director of the Edinburgh International Festival at the end of 1977. Drummond's period at the Festival was particularly successful, and Norman Lebrecht commended him in a tribute for his multi-disciplinary approach in a celebration of 'fin de siècle' Vienna in 1983.[8] In his Guardian obituary, Humphrey Burton listed several highlights from his tenure in Edinburgh: operas in 1980 including Peter Maxwell Davies' The Lighthouse, for international theatre 1979 with the Rustaveli Company, Georgia, and 1980 for Bill Bryden's adaptation of the York and Wakefield mystery plays for the National Theatre, and starting a book fair and commissioning the Queen's Hall as a festival chamber music venue.[4]
Radio 3 and later life
After leaving his post in Edinburgh in 1983, he returned to the BBC and was appointed Controller, Music (in tandem with his predecessor
While Controller of Radio 3, Drummond introduced the co-ordination of interval talks with the evening concert, doubled the length of the Saturday morning
Drummond criticised Nigel Kennedy in 1991 for wearing a black cloak and 'Dracula' make-up while performing Berg's Violin Concerto,[10] and comparing Kennedy's usual punk clothing to the vulgarity of Liberace.[9] Kennedy had irritated him by claiming Drummond had an "attitude problem" and represented "the typical arrogance of a self-appointed guardian of the arts world".[2]
Having chosen not to renew his contract as Radio 3 Controller for a second five-year term in 1992, he became openly critical of the Birt regime at the BBC, for its managerial and populist instincts. For Drummond, the BBC "has been an organisation which has seen itself as leading society, not following taste. If it no longer wishes to be that, I can't see any reason for its existence." At about the same time, he called Tony Blair a "professional philistine" and attacked the Blair government for destroying "the national sense of culture".[11] At the very end of his autobiography he attacked what he saw as trends in the arts: "The lowest-common-denominator, accessibility-at-any-price, anti-intellectual laziness of so many of today's leaders [...] is a form of appeasement. Failing or refusing to differentiate between the good and the indifferent, while sheltering under a cloak of spurious democracy, is simply not good enough. It is a betrayal of all our civilization has stood for".[12]
Other activities and honours
John Drummond was chairman of
He was appointed a CBE in 1990 and knighted five years later.
Bibliography
- A Fine and Private Place: a collection of epitaphs and inscriptions (with ISBN 0-297-77432-8
- Speaking of Diaghilev, 1997, Faber, ISBN 0-571-17864-2
- Tainted by Experience: a Life in the Arts, 2000, Faber, ISBN 0-571-20922-X
References
- ^ a b c d e Milnes, R. "Obituary: Sir John Drummond". Opera, November 2006, pp. 1311-1312.
- ^ a b "Sir John Drummond". The Times. 8 September 2006. Retrieved 25 September 2021. (subscription required)
- ^ a b c "Sir John Drummond". The Telegraph. 8 September 2021. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
- ^ a b c Burton, Humphrey; Kenyon, Nicholas (8 September 2006). "Sir John Drummond". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
- ^ Tusa, John (22 September 2011). "Sir John Drummond". The Independent. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
- ^ Carpenter, p. 316
- ^ British Film Institute page for John Drummond, accessed 24 January 2014.
- ^ Drummond Won Plaudits, Enemies at BBC, Proms: Norman Lebrecht, accessed 18 January 2014.
- ^ a b Carpenter, p. 335
- ^ Tainted by Experience, A Life in the Arts, 2000, Faber, pp. 394-395.
- ^ Kennedy hits back at arts elitism, accessed 18 January 2014.
- ^ Quoted in editorial "Piece in our time". Opera, October 2006, p. 1159.
- ^ John Drummond at the Royal Philharmonic Society website Archived 1 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine accessed 24 January 2014.
- ^ Drummond, John (2000). Tainted by Experience, A Life in the Arts. London: Faber. p. 456.
- ISBN 0-7538-0250-3, pp. 316–36]
- Hevesi, Dennis, "John Drummond, 71, Director of the Edinburgh Arts Festival, Dies", New York Times", 15 September 2006.
External links
- "Former controller of Radio 3 dies", BBC News 7 September 2006
- "Sir John Drummond dies, aged 71" The Gramophone, 7 September 2006
- "Champion of music, cleaner of floors", by John Tusa The Guardian, 8 September 2006