Northern Ballet moves orchestra to freelance model

Northern Ballet will be offering work to freelance musicians, including who have worked with the company for years, for performances from February 2025 onwards, the company announced on 16th January 2025.

“Since September 2023, when Northern Ballet first announced that organisational changes were taking place in response to unprecedented rises in production and touring costs, there have been many difficult and challenging choices,” the Leeds, the UK,-based company said.

“Given the flexibility required to support our touring model at differing scales, we are offering work to freelance players at a sustainable rate that will allow us to retain more live music.”

Ahead of Northern Ballet’s announcement, Musicians’ Union said on 9th January that any work offered by Northern Ballet was now non-union terms and expressed disappointment.

Northern Ballet has been using recorded music for some performances instead of live music by its 28-people Sinfonia to reduce costs since April 2024.