Omroeporkesten in Nederland. Een beleidshistorische verkenning.

Like other European broadcasting orchestras, the recent history of Dutch public broadcasting’s classical music ensembles is marked by mergers and funding cuts. In 2011 the new government (Rutte 1) intended to dismantle completely the broadcasting music center, but this was prevented by parliament. Still, the budget was reduced by almost sixty percent, to 14.9 million Euro, and was earmarked for the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and the Large Radio Choir [Groot Omroepkoor]. The Radio Chamber Philharmonic was terminated and the Metropole Orchestra (pop & jazz) was transformed into a private organization, which has to operate on the so-called ‘free market’. The music library is closed and might be re-opened in the city of The Hague from 2018. This incident is the starting point of this article, which provides overview of important political and institutional discourses between 1945 and 2012 on the identities and future of the classical music broadcasting orchestras and how these affected the music center’s budgets.