The Rouen Opera Orchestra and the Caen Regional Orchestra will not merge
The plan to merge the Rouen Opera Orchestra and the Caen Regional Orchestra, supported by the Region, will ultimately not take place. It is the option of an overhaul of the statutes of the current Public Establishment for Cultural Cooperation (EPCC) that has been retained. The Rouen and Mondeville sites are preserved and a common artistic direction has been decided.
The project to merge the orchestras of Caen and Rouen, put forward by the Region last December into a single symphony orchestra, was not retained on Monday June 27, 2022. This is another scenario which was announced during a press conference held by the President of the Normandy Region, Hervé Morin, Catherine Morin-Desailly, President of the Culture, Tourism, Attractiveness Commission of the Normandy Region and Patrick Gomont, Vice-President of the Normandy Region, in charge of Culture and of Heritage.
As part of his project of “reconciliation” of the orchestra of the Rouen opera and the regional orchestra of Caenthe Region – the main funder of these two structures – has announced a Overhaul of the statutes of the Public Establishment for Cultural Cooperation (EPCC) which currently carries the Orchester de l’Opéra Rouen Normandie. From now on he will also carry the orchestra of Caen. The EPCC will be in charge of both structures.
The existence of two distinct sites, Mondeville and Rouen, is however well maintained, indicates the Region in its press release. This scenario will, among other consequences, “unify the general management of the project and its musical direction”of “bring together funding within a single structure” and of “work to build a unified regulatory framework.”
For the president of the Culture, Tourism, Attractiveness Commission of the Normandy Region, this project is not to save money.
It is a project precisely to aim for sustainability. There will be no job cuts. And we have also reaffirmed the Rouen and Mondeville bi-site.
Catherine Morin-Desailly, Senator for Seine-Maritime and President of the Culture, Tourism and Attractiveness Commission for the Normandy RegionFrance 3 Normandy
The staff of the orchestras are worried about the consequences of this project on future artistic proposals.
There is a desire to open up funding for the two orchestras in Normandy and sometimes I have the feeling that this is to the detriment of an artistic vision, of an artistic project for Normandy.
Nicolas Musset, double bass player at the Rouen OperaFrance 3 Normandy
“If they want a large, visible, international orchestra in Normandy, you have to rebuild an orchestra around Rouen, which is already the biggest, and give rural people the possibility of having music and beautiful music”emphasizes Fabrice Béguin, double bass player at the Normandy Regional Orchestra.
On Monday, the Region announced that consultations with staff and social partners would continue, “with a view to an effective combination for the last quarter of 2023.”