The great Olympic fiddle: Farce as London Symphony Orchestra is told to mime at opening of Games

The great Olympic fiddle: Farce as London Symphony Orchestra is told to mime at opening of Games

Part of the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics has been labelled a ‘travesty’ after it emerged that the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) will be miming instead of delivering a live show as athletes from the competing nations parade around the stadium in front of a worldwide audience of four billion.

Members of the LSO, widely acclaimed as one of the world’s finest orchestras, were shocked to discover last week that they will be required to give a ‘pretend performance’ at the ceremony, while the actual sound filling the stadium will be from a recording the same musicians made six weeks ago.

This is a farce, it is ridiculous.

The London Symphony Orchestra, one of the best in the world, being asked to "lip synch" at the opening ceremony. What an insult to sound engineers across the world, the viewers and members of the orchestra.

This, as one of the commenters to the article states, is what I would do:

The members of the LSO should just wait until the music starts, and then all just put their instruments down and just walk off. They would get a standing ovation and the admiration of the entire world, for having self-respect & sticking to their principles.

hi op
the whole bloody event is farcicle
just heard that its 7.50 pounds a pint of beer

dont forget all the profits london makes
what about us here in the midland once the industrial heart of the nation
will we see a penny of it?
not a bloody chance
up your jacksie london and screw your olympics

Hmm that is not great is it. Must have something to do with the sound systems, acoustics?

I support us holding the Olympics and reject the provincialism from some in other parts of the country from where sports are being held at, but 12 billion www.guardian.co.uk... what it seems it is going to cost overall is too much.

2-5 billion would have been an acceptable figure with the rest funneled back in to stimulating the economy, i.e. infrastructure projects, hospitals and schools.

I have my fingers crossed that the rest of the world sees a massive cock-up, a failure of epic proportions, just so the rest of the world gets to see the UK for what it really is.
A monumental pile of steaming crap, that the rest of the world is told is, smoke from the flames of the heart of a proud nation.
We know the truth, the united gulag kingdom, is nothing but, veiled poop.

As for the LSO, i feel sorry for them, another great instituton that will be ridiculed in the eyes of the world.
They are professional enough to be able to manage whatever happens during a live performance, now if it goes wrong will we hear the sound of the CD skipping as they reset the right track??.
hahaha, i can't wait.

reply to post by Iamonlyhuman


This is so insulting to the LSO!!

The LSO is full of talented musicians and they want them to pull a Britney Spears?!!?! I'd be highly upset if I were part of the LSO.

I have seen the LSO once and it was amazing! I played clarinet for 8 yrs and I would love to be in the seat of some the amazing clarinetists in the LSO.

The Olympic games sound like they will be far from what they should be...



also couldnt help but notice all the pyramids around the stadium and what is up with the creepy mascot?!

Originally posted by Peruvianmonk
Hmm that is not great is it. Must have something to do with the sound systems, acoustics?

I support us holding the Olympics and reject the provincialism from some in other parts of the country from where sports are being held at, but 12 billion www.guardian.co.uk... what it seems it is going to cost overall is too much.

2-5 billion would have been an acceptable figure with the rest funneled back in to stimulating the economy, i.e. infrastructure projects, hospitals and schools.

A part of that 12 billion went to paying the LSO for renting Abbey Lane Studios and recording the material they are now asking them to mime, under the direction of a different director (that's insulting too!). They are, in effect, paying orchestra members twice for the performance. Apparently orchestra members didn't know they were recording for this event.

It's an insult to professional sound engineers to say that they couldn't have provided acoustics acceptable for this performance.