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It is all too easy to view culture from the bottom line, assessing its worth against social, political or commercial purposes. Yet the arts help us to transcend such constraints; the need to value and support them is more than ever. The Battle of Ideas provides the perfect platform to champion the very best in contemporary culture. The Royal Philharmonic Society is proud to be a partner. Tom Hutchinson, RPS Project Coordinator About the Royal Philharmonic Society The Royal Philharmonic Society [RPS] is one of the two oldest music societies in the world. It was formed on 24 January 1813 with the aim ‘to promote the performance, in the most perfect manner possible of the best and most approved instrumental music’, which it did principally by giving regular public orchestral concerts in London, including through two world wars. Today the RPS seeks to create a future for music through the encouragement of creativity, the recognition of excellence and the promotion of understanding. The Society’s artistic activities focus on composers and young musicians and through a programme of audience development, awards and discussion (most recently Alex Ross’s RPS Lecture on concert etiquette and applause) it seeks to raise the public consciousness of the finest music making today and to create a forum for debate about the direction of classical music. Current recipients of the Society’s highest honour, the RPS Gold Medal, are: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Janet Baker, Bernard Haitink, Alfred Brendel, Colin Davis, Elliott Carter, Pierre Boulez, Simon Rattle, Placido Domingo, Joan Sutherland, Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Henri Dutilleux and Thomas Quasthoff. |
Free will: just an illusion?
"The rules of the game at The Battle of Ideas makes beating about the bush impossible. When you are given 5 minutes to make your point, you either say something essential, or you reveal that you have nothing really to say. This eliminates 'the unbearable lightness' of speculation that haunts public debate."
Albena Azmanova, social philosopher, political commentator and activist
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