I went to a concert this evening in the Conservatoire. I know, it’s just glamour, glamour, glamour. It looks like it needs a lick of paint.
It is one of the Belgian institutions that is supported by both the French and the Flemish community (and maybe even the German speakers too, for all I know). This is deeply unfortunate because, before they can agree to pick up a paintbrush, all the parameters of the action have to be explored and agreed by both communities. I may be mixing up my communities and my regions here, it is all fiendishly complex: I think that there are two regions (Flanders and Wallonia) and three communities (French speaking, Flemish speaking and German speaking) but it’s all a bit of a mystery really. I have already written about the effect on the nation’s young orchestra conductors. Tonight I heard that the in the conservatoire, the bottom of the tympani (or drums as I used to call them before I heard the conservatoire types talking) are funded by the Flemish and the tops by the French. Something has to give.
Meanwhile, on the radio on the way home, I hear that one of the catholic cardinals has put the cat among the pigeons by saying that he disapproves of gay marriage, abortion and condoms. Um, this is a surprise?