I co-founded an orchestra 18 years ago. Since then, I’ve seen doors close for working-class musicians | Robert Ames

I have lost patience with the sector’s talk of diversity when it refuses to acknowledge those people who can’t afford to keep playing I’ve spent most of my adult life working in classical music – for the past 18 years as the co-founder and conductor of the London Contemporary Orchestra (LCO), an organisation I’m stepping down from today. During that time, I have found myself increasingly angry at how much harder it has become for someone without money behind them to build a life in the sector. T