Simon Rattle: UK classical music is fighting for life after ‘swingeing’ funding cuts

Simon Rattle conducts the BBC Singers. The decision to disband them was reversed after an outcry. Photograph: Mark Allan

“Deeply alarming” cuts to classical music by Arts Council England and the BBC are cutting away “at the flesh of our culture”, Sir Simon Rattle, Britain’s best-known living conductor, has said.

In a speech at the Barbican on Sunday, Rattle, the outgoing music director of the London Symphony Orchestra, said the last few months “have been devastating” for the sector.