Adding insult to injury, the BBC Singers, which will be dissolved as part of the BBC’s new classical music initiative will not even get a Proms send-off.

For over 100 years, the Singers have participated in the festivities, but under the new initiative, the group will be disbanded the week before Proms begin.

People within and without the classical music community have been weighing in on the BBC’s move to shutter the beloved ensemble, with many expressing both anger and sadness.

A Change.org petition has collected nearly 24,000 signatures and will soon rank among the top signed.

In a  tweet, composer Judith Bingham, OBE, wrote:

Woke up feeling depressed about @BBCSingers – will the BBC notice that the whole classical music world thinks it's a mistake? It's not just cultural vandalism, it's a pointless cut, especially as the return is so great.

— Judith Bingham OBE (@binghamcomposer) March 8, 2023

The King’s Singers jumped in:

It’s a dark day for choral music in the U.K. with the news that the BBC is disbanding the @BBCSingers. We’ll absolutely be culturally worse-off without them, and that’s to say nothing of the devastation for the skilled singers and staff, for whom this was their livelihood. pic.twitter.com/1XK8Hy3eZJ

— The King's Singers (@kingssingers) March 7, 2023

British mezzo-soprano Jennifer Jonston commented as well:

There isn’t a covert campaign to diminish & sideline classical music and opera in the UK, you say?

In the past 6 months:
• @E_N_O, @BrittenSinfonia & @PsapphaEnsemble removed from the National Portfolio by @ace_national, ENO must move out of London.
• All orchestras and opera… https://t.co/WQD2BR5VtK

— Jennifer Johnston (@jjohnstonmezzo) March 7, 2023

Even the iconic British synthpop group Pet Shop Boys commented on their website that they were “very shocked and disappointed to learn that the BBC is closing down its remarkable choir, the BBC Singers…,” lead vocalist Neil Tennant wrote, adding, that he sang with them at Proms in 2014. “… [I] loved their beautiful singing and also their commitment to music and sense of fun.”