THE removal of the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) from RTE is recommended in a report launched yesterday by the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Mr Higgins.
Other proposals include the creation of new posts within the NSO and the RTE Concert Orchestra. The report recommends that the NSO be made a statutory body and that the positions of the RTECO and the RTE String Quartet be consolidated through amendments to the Broadcasting Authority Act.
The review group PIANO (Provisional and Institutional Arrangements Now for Orchestras and Ensembles) was set up in June 1994 under the chairmanship of Dr John O'Conor, pianist and director of the Royal Irish Academy of Music.
Its brief was to look into the structures relating to the performance of classical and contemporary music, with particular reference to orchestral music.
Welcoming the report, Mr Higgins said he would introduce legislation if he considered that desirable.
The report envisages that, in the short term, the NSO will continue to be funded via the television licence fee. But it recommends that in the longer term it should be funded directly by the Government.
A statement issued by RTE describes the station's "initial response" as one of "great concern at the proposal that the NSO, Philharmonic Choir and Cor na nOg be separated from RTE."
The report ranges widely outside its original brief, which was welcomed by the Minister, and includes nearly 50 recommendations.
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