2024-11-30-accounts - Oxford Lieder

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Registered Charity Number 1111458 Registered Company Number 05485276

Oxford Lieder

(A company limited by guarantee)

Report and Financial Statements Year ending 30 November 2024

Oxford Lieder The report of the Trustees for the year ended 30 November 2024

Introduction

The Trustees are pleased to present their annual directors’ report together with the financial statements of the charity for the year ending 30 November 2024 which are also prepared to meet the requirements for a directors’ report and accounts for Companies Act purposes. The Trustees consider the financial performance by the charity during the year to have been satisfactory.

The financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Companies Act 2006, the Memorandum and Articles of Association, and Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2015).

In June 2023, Oxford Lieder rebranded to Oxford International Song Festival. The name of the registered charity remains as Oxford Lieder.

Purposes and activities

Under the terms of its Memorandum and Articles of Association, the company was established to promote and advance education in music and the arts, especially singing, in the City of Oxford and elsewhere, through the presentation of concerts, festivals, lectures and recordings, and by active participation, for the benefit of every section of the community.

In shaping our objectives for the year and planning our activities, the Trustees have considered the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit, including the guidance ‘ Public benefit: running a charity (PB2) ’.

The Charity’s Grant-making policies

Grants are made from the Trufflehunter Fund for the purposes of support for young singers and musicians, such as through the Oxford Song Young Artist Platform, the Mastercourse and purchase of musical instruments. Such grants are made from time to time, in accordance with the expressed wishes of the sole donor to the Fund.

Summary of main activities of the charity in relation to its objects

The main activities during the year have continued to be the promotion of the Oxford International Song Festival and a smaller-scale series of year-round concerts, together with an expansion of the successful learning and participation programmes. The strategies to achieve the charity’s objectives are to promote song through concerts and educational programmes for all sectors of the community, to educate and involve young people in the arts, to celebrate a diversity of cultures through presentations by, and with, artists of different cultural backgrounds, and to programme a broad range of arts work, including talks, residencies, recordings and workshops.

Achievements and Performance of the Charity

Oxford International Song Festival is one of the world’s leading promoters of classical song, inspiring thousands of people annually through exceptional concerts, enlightening study events and wide-ranging opportunities for participation. The Oxford International Song Festival (formerly the Oxford Lieder Festival), the focal point of our year each October, is the UK’s largest festival of song and has been the recipient of a prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Award, cited for its ‘breadth, depth and audacity of programming (2014)’. Oxford International Song Festival has a mission to re-establish an appreciation of song; the meeting of words, music, languages and artistry that can be so powerful, yet has been neglected in recent decades. The hallmarks of Oxford International Song Festival are:

the highest quality of performance from world-leading artists and the best emerging talent
diverse and imaginative programming
creative collaborations and commissioning of new music
opportunities to learn and to take part
a friendly, informal and welcoming environment in intimate venues.

Attendance across our concerts and event series in 2024 exceeded 10,000, with many thousands more engaging through annual BBC Radio 3 concert broadcasts, and via YouTube and social media. The 2024 Oxford International Song Festival Cities of Song comprised 71 events featuring 214 artists and speakers in 15 different venues around

Oxford Lieder The report of the Trustees for the year ended 30 November 2024

Oxford, and attendance exceeded 9,600. Thanks to strong and receptive audiences and the continuing generosity of our donors, we ended the year in a stable financial position.

Our concert season began in January 2024 with former Oxford Song Young Artist soprano Harriet Burns and pianist Ian Tindale starting our touring series in Wolfson College, Oxford. We continued this series throughout 2024, presenting outstanding early-career singers at five recitals at Wolfson College and the Barber Institute in Birmingham.

Overall, 2024 was a year in which we continued to develop and expand our audience, raise our profile nationally and internationally, and deliver diverse and innovative artistic and education programmes focussed on classical song. We are also now planning ahead to milestone Festivals in future years, with an ambitious artistic strategy to secure Oxford as an international centre for song. Our extraordinarily generous base of supporters shares our commitment to world-class music in the heart of Oxford, and will be pivotal in realising our potential in 2025 and beyond.

THE OXFORD INTERNATIONAL SONG FESTIVAL: 11-26 October 2024 Cities of Song – People, Places, Music

“contrasting concerts at the highest level” – The Observer, five stars, October 2024

The 23[rd] Oxford International Song Festival explored cities that inspired composers and influenced the development of classical music in a wide variety of ways. In a special initiative for this year, we appointed pianist Natalie Burch to the role of Associate Artistic Director. Natalie co-curated a large part of the 2024 Festival programme with our Artistic Director Sholto Kynoch, enabling Sholto to forge ahead with planning future seasons as we look ahead to the 2028 Schubert Bicentenary and beyond. Alongside a roster of world-renowned singers and pianists, Festival events explored Schubert’s Vienna, Kafka’s Prague, Haydn’s Oxford, as well as marking special anniversaries of composers including Gabriel Fauré, Charles Ives and Arnold Schoenberg. At the heart of the programme were 16 headline evening concerts given by stars including Roderick Williams, Carolyn Sampson, Sarah Connolly, Christian Gerhaher, Christopher Maltman, Lucy Crowe, Helen Charlston and Nicky Spence.

“edge-of the-seat engaging … a thoughtful, completely nourishing and unforgettable evening of words and music at the highest level” – The Arts Desk on Christian Gerhaher & Gerold Huber’s Festival recital, October 2024

Chamber and choral music were also a key part of this year’s programme: we were delighted to present performances by the Carducci, Chaos, Castalian and Piatti String Quartets, the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective and Ensemble 360, whilst two sell-out performances of Mozart’s Requiem given by the Choir of Merton College, Oxford, mezzo soprano Myrna Tennant and former Oxford Song Young Artists Caroline Taylor, Magnus Spence and Wonsick Oh, directed by Benjamin Nicholas, were a highlight of the Festival’s final day.

We celebrated the 25[th] anniversary of BBC Radio 3’s pioneering New Generation Artists Scheme with a day of concerts given by NGAs past and present, including Elizabeth Watts, Michael Pandya and Kathryn Rudge, all recorded for broadcast and introduced by Radio 3 Presenter Ian Skelly.

We continued our annual series of Schubert Weekends, begun in 2022 to carry us through to the bicentenary of the composer’s death in 2028. Pre-eminent scholar-pianist Graham Johnson presented a lecture-recital on Schubert’s life in 1824, and concerts across the weekend given by leading artists including Christian Immler, Sophie Karthäuser, Christopher Maltman and brilliant young tenor Hiroshi Amako all focussed on Schubert. We also welcomed back ensemble Schubert & Co. for an exuberant, sell-out ‘Schubertiade’ to open the Weekend.

SONG CONNECTIONS

A key component of the Oxford International Song Festival is our wide-ranging programme of study events – ‘Song Connections’ – which complement the musical programme. This year’s ‘Song Connections’ events explored topics including the cities that inspired Clara and Robert Schumann (Leipzig) and Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn (Berlin), the musical works of pre-eminent 20[th] -century pianist Yvonne Loriod, and composers working in exile. A special guided tour of the Bodleian Libraries Kafka: Making of an Icon exhibition by Carolin Duttlinger was another highlight of this

Oxford Lieder The report of the Trustees for the year ended 30 November 2024

event series, complementing our events exploring Kafka’s Prague as part of Oxford’s wider celebration of the Kafka centenary.

We were delighted to continue our partnership with SongPath, a mental-health initiative founded by Jess Dandy (a former Oxford Song Young Artist) and Joanna Harries that provides participants with nourishing ways of connecting through walking, talking and music-making. They led a guided walk in Worcester College Gardens as part of our partnership with Worcester College, as well as delivering workshops for Oxfordshire Mind.

SONG FUTURES

Contemporary music has long been an integral part of our Festival programmes. 13 Festival events were part of our Song Futures programme this year: we presented 2 Festival commissions and works by 35 living composers including Ian Venables, Libby Larsen, Texu Kim and Anna Semple. The breadth of programming afforded by Song Futures continues to be an overwhelmingly positive part of our audiences’ experience: in our post-festival survey, more than half of our participants selected ‘Discovering new/unfamiliar music’ as a key reason for their attendance at the Festival.

Our major commission for 2024 was Gayatri Mantra by Indian-American composer Reena Esmail which set Sanskrit verses from the Hindu scripture the Bhagavad Gita. Esmail’s commission formed part of a specially-devised concert programme – ‘Eternity in an Hour’ – by former Oxford Song Young Artists, Jess Dandy (contralto) and Keval Shah (piano) which explored connections between Western and Eastern classical song.

“The contralto Jess Dandy and the pianist Keval Shah combine classical music traditions and religions in a profound way at the Oxford International Song Festival” – The Times, four stars

Our second major commission for this year’s Festival was Silent Songs of Josefine by Turkish composer Can Bilir – a song cycle inspired by Kafka as part of the Bodleian Libraries ‘Kafka: Making of an Icon’ exhibition. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances the world premiere had to be postponed, and so we are looking to reschedule it in a future Festival.

We were also delighted to appoint rising British composer Emily Hazrati to be our Associate Composer for three years from 2024-26. In her inaugural year we commissioned Emily to write two additional songs for her collection Byron's Don Juan Imagined though Song , with texts by Joseph Spence, which were given their world premiere by Ella Taylor (soprano) and Jocelyn Freeman (piano).

We are particularly grateful to the Nicholas John Trust, Founder Supporters of Song Futures.

COLLABORATIONS

We continue to seek and nurture collaborations to broaden our reach, open up new areas for artistic exploration, and bring song to new audiences. This year we worked with BBC Radio 3, the Cultural Programme, Wadham College, and SongPath, as well as continuing our fruitful international partnerships with Life Victoria and Zeist International Lied Festival. Our partnership with the Bodleian Libraries to present a number of events as part of the University’s wider Kafka’s Transformative Communities events programme celebrating the centenary of Kafka was an important part of this year’s Festival. We were also pleased to work with Worcester College as our 2024 partner college; events within this partnership included our SongPath guided walk and concerts in Worcester College Chapel.

LEARNING & PARTICIPATION

Since 2020 we have embarked upon an expansion of our Schools Programme – the annual creative and singing project we deliver for local primary schools – with the aim of engaging all pupils at our participating schools in musical activities across multiple academic terms. In September 2023 we began the second year of our partnership with St Frideswide Primary School to engage all c.320 pupils and staff in creative and singing activities across all three academic terms.

Oxford Lieder The report of the Trustees for the year ended 30 November 2024

In the autumn term Key Stage 2 classes participated in workshops and cultural visits to the Ashmolean Museum and Buscot & Coleshill Estates to create their own class songs with support from our creative team Leader John Webb, and Oxford Song Young Artists Katie MacDonald and Joseph Cavalli-Price. The term’s activities culminated in a performance of the songs, combined into a song cycle called St Frideswide’s Return of the Epic – from the Stone Age to Wartime Spies, for the whole school community in December 2023 at SJE Arts.

In the spring term we worked with Early Years classes to deliver workshops for both pupils and staff, further supporting teachers in using music for classroom learning. We also engaged vocal animateur Joe Cummings to deliver a series of singing workshops for Key Stage 1 classes to help improve children’s singing abilities upon specific request from the school.

In the summer term we worked with year 6 classes as part of the school’s ‘St Fred’s High’ transition project, a school initiative which supports pupils in acclimatising to secondary school. In our creative workshops, led by John Webb and supported by Katie Macdonald and Joseph Cavalli-Price, pupils composed a soundtrack to the classic 1931 film Frankenstein and gave a performance of this soundtrack accompanying the film in Cowley’s Ultimate Picture Palace.

The evaluation we undertook in July 2024 showed that our project has had a very positive impact on St Frideswide Primary School. Staff commented that the standard of music and singing has improved at St Frideswide over the last two academic years; our projects have raised the music and singing standards required of children, and teachers now have a benchmark to compare to and have higher expectations of children’s musical abilities. Teachers also noted that our project activities have enhanced literacy work (through lyric-writing), and have benefited children’s engagement more generally, e.g. building confidence in performing, and teaching children the importance of working together, taking turns and listening to each other’s ideas. Our Early Years sessions also had a profound effect, enabling teachers to engage with pupils through informal music-making when other forms of communication haven’t worked. Select feedback includes:

“The projects we have worked on with Oxford Song allow our children to develop their musicality and their musical aspirations, and they look forward to the composition sessions. The training and mentoring for staff as part of the projects means that teachers’ subject knowledge improves and that they are braver in their own teaching. We are hugely grateful for these amazing opportunities.” – Hannah Forder-Ball, Headteacher

“The impact from the project on the children's ability to perform was profound” – St Frideswide teacher

From September 2024 we are delighted to be further expanding this programme to engage both St Frideswide and a second school North Hinksey C.E. simultaneously.

Our Young Artist Programme, which provides training and career development opportunities for sixteen early career artists across 18 months, restarted in April 2024. Adjudication panel Christine Rice, Daniel Norman and our Artistic Director Sholto Kynoch heard auditions from 18 duos presented as 30-minute recitals open to the public. Auditionees’ travel expenses were covered by Oxford Song and the auditions were filmed to provide auditionees with footage for their own future promotional use. This approach, which is sadly not the norm elsewhere, ensures the audition experience is highly beneficial for all who participate, not just those successfully selected for the programme. Following this, we were delighted to appoint eight singer/pianist duos who are now engaging in a range of activities including participation on our acclaimed Mastercourse and performances at the Oxford International Song Festival in 2024 and 2025.

This year’s Mastercourse – a residential programme consisting of 8 days of in-depth masterclasses, study, rehearsal and performance experience – ran during the second week of the Oxford International Song Festival for our Young Artists, and was led by Anne Le Bozec with guest tutors Christian Immler, Stéphane Degout and Joan Rodgers. Feedback from participants on our Young Artist Programme so far has been extremely positive and we look forward to activities continuing in 2025:

Oxford Lieder The report of the Trustees for the year ended 30 November 2024

"This Mastercourse was overwhelmingly rich with opportunities, very full with events and things to be doing! It was the best young artist programme I have ever taken part in. Attendance of every single concert of the festival was such a gift and we all definitely grew as artists by watching established artists and what they did right/wrong. The coaches were all absolutely unparalleled in their knowledge and gave us tips that we will all be employing for far into the future." – Oxford Song Young Artist, October 2024

We are very grateful to our Young Artist Programme Principal Supporter Jerwood Foundation and the other charitable trusts and foundations who generously support this initiative.

Young performers also made a significant contribution to the main Festival programme: over the Festival’s sixteen days we were delighted to showcase over 70 young artists across 31 individual events as part of our Young Performers' Programme. In an important new initiative, we also filmed all of our young performers' performances for their future promotional use. We are very grateful to the Mila Charitable Organisation and the other charitable trusts and foundations who generously support our Young Performers' recitals.

SPRING SONG 19-21 April 2024

Our Spring mini-festival was a great success: alongside the audition sessions for our next cohort of Oxford Song Young Artists we presented three showcase concerts by Kitty Whately and William Vann, Alessandro Fisher and Sholto Kynoch, and Roderick Williams and Roger Vignoles, and an insightful talk by Professor Helen Abbott on French mélodie, with strong audience numbers and positive feedback from those who attended throughout the weekend.

SONG AT WOLFSON AND THE BARBER INSTITUTE

Our touring series with our promoter partners continues to be an important part of our concert season. Through this series, Oxford International Song Festival’s Artistic Director, Sholto Kynoch, introduces exceptional emerging professional singers who are a little further into their careers than our Young Artists, but who are not yet household names. Lorena Paz Nieto and Ella Taylor gave song recitals at Wolfson College (Oxford) and the Barber Institute (Birmingham) with an additional special recital by longstanding recital partners Harriet Burns and Ian Tindale in Wolfson College to celebrate the launch of their first CD together. This series continues to be popular with our audience and enables Oxford International Song Festival to further support emerging artists and reach new audiences.

TRUSTEES

We were pleased to confirm that Philip Winston would be joining the board of trustees from December 2024.

Oxford Lieder The report of the Trustees for the year ended 30 November 2024

Financial Review

Reserves policy and Going Concern

The Trustees have established the level of reserves (that is those funds that are freely available) that the charity ought to have. This figure is set at the amount sufficient to pay for the governance and support costs of the operation for a period of six months. On the basis of the costs for the year ended 30th November 2024, the Trustees would wish to maintain the unrestricted reserve at a minimum level of £145,000.

The actual unrestricted reserve at 30th November 2024 amounted to £209,059. The Trustees are of the view that, based on their assessment of the 2024 results and the fundraising plans now in place, the charity is a going concern.

Availability and adequacy of assets of each of the funds

The Board of Trustees is satisfied that the charity’s assets in each fund are available and adequate to fulfil its obligations in respect of each fund.

Transactions and Financial position

The accounts are set out on pages 11 to 14. As stated in the introduction to this report, the Trustees consider the financial performance by the charity during the year to have been satisfactory.

There were no other incoming or outgoing resources.

Amount of reserves held

The total reserves at the year-end stand at £304,684 (2023 £175,361).

Reference and Administrative details

Name, registered office and constitution of the charity

The full name of the charity is Oxford Lieder.

The legal registration details are:-

Date of incorporation 20th June 2005 Company Registration Number 5485276 The Registered Office is: 37 Fairacres Road, Oxford OX4 1TH Charity Registration Number 1111458

Directors

Hamish Forsyth (Chairman) Charles Alexander (Deputy Chairman) Nicola Creed Julian Hall John Krebs Charles Naylor Sarah Taylor

Oxford Lieder The report of the Trustees for the year ended 30 November 2024

Bankers

CAF Bank 25 Kings Hill Avenue Kings Hill West Malling

Structure, governance and management

Nature of the Governing Document and constitution of the charity

Oxford Lieder Limited is a company limited by guarantee governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association dated 20 June 2005. It is registered as a charity with the Charity Commission. Anyone over the age of 18 can become a member of the Company and there are currently 7 members, each of whom agrees to contribute up to £10 in the event of the charity winding up.

The methods adopted for the recruitment and appointment of new Trustees

The members attending the annual meeting elect Trustees to serve for a term of three years. The Trustees have the power to co-opt further members to assist them in their work. Co-opted members may serve for a period of up to three years.

The policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of Trustees

New Trustees are briefed on their legal obligations under charity and company law, the content of the Memorandum and Articles of Association, the decision making processes, and the recent financial performance of the charity.

The organisational structure of the charity and how decisions are made

The board of Trustees, which can have up to 10 members and at least 5 members at any one time, administers the charity. The board meets approximately quarterly. The Artistic Director and Director of Administration & Finance have delegated authority, within terms of delegation approved by the Trustees, for operational matters including finance, employment and artistic performance-related activity.

The major risks to which the charity is exposed, and reviews and systems to mitigate risks

The Trustees have a risk management strategy which comprises:

a regular review of the risks the charity may face;
the establishment of systems and procedures to mitigate those risks identified in the plan;
the implementation of procedures designed to minimise any potential impact on the charity should those risks materialise.

The Trustees have kept risk under review and are developing a thorough risk register. They have identified the most significant risks to the charity to be a shortfall in ticket and voluntary income and a website and database outage. To manage this risk, the Trustees have put in place a robust budget and fundraising programme and are putting measures in place to mitigate against any outage. It also has a reserves policy, which is regularly reviewed by Trustees. The review has also identified a few minor risks and has confirmed its procedures to address these.

Share Capital

The company is limited by guarantee and therefore has no share capital.

The name of the Chief Executive Officer and other senior staff members to whom day to day management of the charity is delegated by the charity Trustees:

Sholto Kynoch, Artistic Director and Taya Smith, Director of Administration & Finance

Oxford Lieder The report of the Trustees for the year ended 30 November 2024

The members of the Board of Trustees of the Charity at the date the report and accounts were approved:

Hamish Forsyth (Chairman) Charles Alexander (Deputy Chairman) Nicola Creed Julian Hall John Krebs Charles Naylor Sarah Taylor

The members of the Board of Trustees of the Charity during the year ended 30th November 2024 were:

Charles Alexander Nicola Creed Hamish Forsyth Julian Hall John Krebs Charles Naylor Sarah Taylor

All the directors of the company are also Trustees of the charity, and their responsibilities include all the responsibilities of directors under the Companies Acts and of Trustees under the Charities Acts.

Independent Examiner

Danny Burke ACMA 17 Queens Road Uxbridge Middlesex UB8 2NN

Statement of Directors' and Trustees' Responsibilities

The charity Trustees (who are also the directors of Oxford Lieder for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing a Trustees’ annual report and financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Company law requires the charity Trustees to prepare financial statements for each year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable group for that period. In preparing the financial statements, the Trustees are required to:

select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
state whether applicable UK accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements;
prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in business.

The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and the group and hence taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

The Trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

OXFORD INTERNATIONAL SONG FESTIVAL Oxford Lieder The report of the Trustees for the year ended 30 November 2024 Method ot preparation of accounts These accounts have been prepared in accordance wtth the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies. regime. This report was approved by the Board ofTrustees on l 2025 Hamish Forsyth Director and Trustee

Independent examiner’s report to the Trustees of the charity

Respective responsibilities of Trustees and examiner

The charity's Trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity’s Trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 (the Charities Act) and that an independent examination is needed.

It is my responsibility to:

examine the accounts under section 145 of the Charities Act;
to follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission (under section 145(5)(b) of the Charities Act; and
to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.

Basis of independent examiner’s statement

My examination was carried out in accordance with General Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from the Trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a ‘true and fair’ view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.

Independent examiner's statement

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention which gives me reasonable cause to believe that, in any material respect, the requirements:

to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; and
to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Charities Act have not been met.

The Examiner's relevant professional qualification or body is:

Chartered Institute of Management Accountants

Date: 25 March 2025

Danny Burke ACMA

17 Queens Road

Uxbridge

Middlesex UB8 2NN

Oxford Lieder Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 30 November 2024

Categories by activity	Note	Unrestricted	Restricted	Endowment	Total funds	Total
		funds	income	funds		funds
			funds
					2024	2023
		£	£	£	£	£
Incoming resources
Income and endowments from:
Donations and legacies	4	438,345	78,367		516,712	407,884
Charitable activities	5	218,681	2,597		221,278	192,757
Investments	6	3,817	-		3,817	2,248
						-
*Total*		660,843	80,964		741,807	602,889
Resources expended
Expenditure on:
Raising funds	7	72,118	-		72,118	72,120
Charitable activities	7	475,856	64,510		540,366	581,321
*Total*		547,974	64,510		612,484	653,441
Net income/(expenditure) before
investment gains/(losses)		112,869	16,454		129,323	(50,552)
Net income/(expenditure)		112,869	16,454		129,323	(50,552)
Transfers between funds					-	-
*Net movement in funds*		112,869	16,454		129,323	(50,552)
*Reconciliation of funds:*
Total funds brought forward		96,190	79,171		175,361	225,913
*Total funds carried forward*		209,059	95,625		304,684	175,361

The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.

Oxford Lieder

Income and Expenditure Account For the year ended 30 November 2024

	2024	2023
	£	£
Turnover	737,990	600,641
Direct costs of turnover	612,484	653,441
Gross surplus/(deficit)	125,506	(52,800)
Governance costs	-	-
Operating surplus/(deficit)	125,506	(52,800)
Interest receivable	3,817	2,248
Surplus/(deficit) on ordinary activities before tax	129,323	(50,552)
Surplus/(deficit) for the financial year	129,323	(50,552)
Retained surplus/(deficit) for the financial year	129,323	(50,552)
All activities derive from continuing operations.

Oxford Lieder Balance Sheet As at 30 November 2024

			Restricted
		Unrestricted	income
	Note	funds	funds	Total	Total
				2024	2023
		£	£	£	£
Current assets
Debtors	14	61,938		61,938	46,112
Cash at bank and in hand		189,904	95,625	285,529	168,443
*Total current assets*		251,842	95,625	347,467	214,555
Creditors: amounts falling due within one
year	15	(42,783)	-	(42,783)	(39,194)
*Net current assets/(liabilities)*		209,059	95,625	304,684	175,361

*Total assets less current liabilities*		209,059	95,625	304,684	175,361

*Total net assets or liabilities*		209,059	95,625	304,684	175,361
Funds of the Charity	17
Restricted income funds			95,625	95,625	79,171
Unrestricted funds		169,059		169,059	96,190
Special Contingency Fund		40,000		40,000	-

*Total funds*		209,059	95,625	304,684	175,361

OXFOQD INTERNATIONAL SONG FESTIVAL Oxford Lieder Balance Sheet As at 30 November 2024 The dirertors are satisfied that for the year ended on 31kh Plovember 2024. the charitable company was entitled to exemption from the requirement to obtain an audit under section 477 of the Companie5 Art 2006 and that no member or members have required the company to obtain an audtt of its accounts for the year in question in accordance with section 476 of the Art. Howvler, in accordance with section 145 of the Charities Act 2011. the accounts have been examined by an Independent Examiner whose rert appears on page 10. The director(sl acknowledge their resp)nsibility for comptying with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 with respect to accounting records and the preparation of accounts. The Trustees have prepared the accounts in accordance with section 398 of the Companies Act 2006 and sertion 138 of the Charities Act 2011. These accounts are prepared in accordance with the special provisions of Part 15 of the Companies Act relating to small companies and constitute the annual accounts required by the Companies Art 2(K)6 and are for circulation to members of the company. Hamish For Trustee Approved by the 8oard of Trustee5 on l 4 t4A(Lc41 2025 14

Oxford Lieder Notes to the Accounts

1. Accounting policies

The principal accounting policies adopted, judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty in the preparation of the financial statements are as follows:

Basis of preparation

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2015) - (Charities SORP (FRS 102)), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.

Advantage has been taken of Section 396(5) of The Companies Act 2006 to allow the format of the financial statements to be adapted to reflect the special nature of the charity's operation and in order to comply with the requirements of the SORP.

All charities preparing their accounts under FRS102 must include a statement of cash flows in their financial statements, unless they are deemed to be smaller, in which case they are exempt from this requirement. The charity meets the exemption criteria and has taken advantage of this exemption from the requirement to produce a cash flow statement.

Oxford Lieder meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy note(s).

Reconciliation with previous Generally Accepted Accounting Practice

In preparing the accounts, the Trustees have considered whether in applying the accounting policies required by FRS 102 and the Charities SORP FRS 102 the restatement of comparative items was required. In the opinion of the Trustees, no restatement is required.

Preparation of the accounts on a going concern basis

The charity is entirely dependent on continuing grant aid and, as a consequence, the going concern basis is also dependent on its continuing. The Trustees are of the view that, based on their assessment of the 2024 results and the fundraising plans now in place, the charity is a going concern.

Income

Income is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the item(s) of income have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably.

Income from government and other grants, whether ‘capital’ grants or ‘revenue’ grants, is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the grants have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably and is not deferred.

For legacies, entitlement is taken as the earlier of the date on which either: the charity is aware that probate has been granted, the estate has been finalised and notification has been made by the executor(s) to the Trust that a distribution will be made, or when a distribution is received from the estate. Receipt of a legacy, in whole or in part, is only considered probable when the amount can be measured reliably and the charity has been notified of the executor’s intention to make a distribution. Where legacies have been notified to the charity, or the charity is aware of the granting of probate, and the criteria for income recognition have not been met, then the legacy is a treated as a contingent asset and disclosed if material.

Oxford Lieder Notes to the Accounts

Income received in advance of a musical performance or provision of other specified service it is deferred until the criteria for income recognition are met (see note 16).

Donated services and facilities

Donated professional services and donated facilities are recognised as income when the charity has control over the item, any conditions associated with the donated item have been met, the receipt of economic benefit from the use by the charity of the item is probable and that economic benefit can be measured reliably. In accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102), the economic value of general volunteer time is not recognised in the accounts.

On receipt, donated professional services and donated facilities are recognised on the basis of the value of the gift to the charity which is the amount the charity would have been willing to pay to obtain services or facilities of equivalent economic benefit on the open market; a corresponding amount is then recognised in expenditure in the period of receipt.

Interest receivable

Interest on funds held on deposit is included when receivable and the amount can be measured reliably by the charity; this is normally upon notification of the interest paid or payable by the Bank.

Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds are available to spend on activities that further any of the purposes of charity. Restricted funds are donations which the donor has specified are to be solely used for areas of the Charity’s work or for specific artistic projects being undertaken by the Charity.

Expenditure and irrecoverable VAT

Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to make a payment to a third party, it is probable that settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is classified under the following activity headings:

Costs of raising funds comprise expenditure items incurred in attracting voluntary income.

Charitable activities include expenditure associated with staging of concerts, stage productions and educational programmes and include both the direct costs and support costs related to those activities.

Value Added Tax is not recoverable by the company, and is therefore included in the relevant costs in the Statement of Financial Activities.

Allocation of support costs

Costs of charitable activities are allocated directly.

The bases on which governance and support costs have been allocated are set out in Note 8.

Debtors

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discount offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid net of any trade discounts due.

Cash at bank and in hand

Cash at bank and cash in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account.

Oxford Lieder Notes to the Accounts

Creditors and provisions

Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.

2. Winding up or dissolution of the charity

If upon winding up or dissolution of the charity there remain any assets, after the satisfaction of all debts and liabilities, the assets represented by the accumulated fund shall be transferred to some other charitable body or bodies having similar objects to the charity.

3. (Deficit)/Surplus for the financial year

	2024	2023
	£	£
This is stated after crediting :-
Revenue Turnover from ordinary activities	737,990	600,641
and after charging:-
Independent Examiner's Fees	-	-

Funds belonging to the charity have not been used for the purchase of insurance to protect the charity from loss arising from the neglect or defaults of its trustees, employees or agents, or to indemnify its trustees, employees or agents, against the consequences of any neglect or default on their part.

4. Income from donations and legacies

The income from donations and legacies was £516,712 (2023: £407,884) of which £438,345 was unrestricted (2023: £361,134) and £78,367 restricted (2023:£46,750).

Oxford Lieder Notes to the Accounts

			Restricted
		Unrestricted	income	Total	Total
		funds	funds	funds	funds
				2024	2023
		£	£	£	£
Donations
and	Donations	73,389	78,367	151,756	103,449
legacies:
	Gift Aid	32,649	-	32,649	21,999
	Legacies	-	-	-	-
	Membership subscriptions and
	sponsorships which are in
	substance donations	332,307	-	332,307	282,436
	Donated goods, facilities and
	services	-	-	-	-
	Total	438,345	78,367	516,712	407,884
	2023	361,134	46,750		407,884

The charity benefits greatly from the involvement and enthusiastic support of its volunteers. In accordance with FRS 102 and the Charities SORP (FRS 102), the economic contribution of general volunteers is not recognised in the accounts.

Oxford Lieder Notes to the Accounts

5. Income from charitable activities

		Unrestricted	Restricted	Total funds	Total
		funds	income		funds
			funds
				2024	2023
		£	£	£	£
Charitable
activities:	Ticket Sales	200,458	-	200,458	170,682
	Front of House Sales	6,964	-	6,964	5,772
	Programme Advertising	-	-	-	-
	Miscellaneous Income	11,259	-	11,259	4,963
	Learning and Participation Income	-	2,597	2,597	11,340
	Total	218,681	2,597	221,278	192,757

6. Investments

Investment income is comprised of interest payments from the bank accounts operated by the charity.

	Unrestricted	Restricted	Total	Total
	funds	income funds	funds	funds
			2024	2023
	£	£	£	£
Bank deposit interest received	3,817	-	3,817 2,248	2,248

Other information:

All income in the prior year was unrestricted except
for:	£
Commissions	14,500
Learning and Participation	43,590
Total	58,090

Oxford Lieder Notes to the Accounts

7. Analysis of resources expended

		Concert and	Learning
		stage	and	Total	Total
		performances	Participation	funds	funds
				2024	2023
	Analysis			£	£
Expenditure
on raising	Staging fundraising events	6,318	-	6,318	8,482
funds:
	Fundraising	65,800	-	65,800	63,638
	Total expenditure on raising
	funds	72,118	-	72,118	72,120
		Concert and	Learning
		stage	and	Total	Total
		performances	Participation	funds	funds
				2024	2023
		£	£	£	£
Expenditure
on charitable	Artists fees & expenses	146,526	36,632	183,158	204,749
activities:
	Venue hire & Performance costs	34,037	8,509	42,546	38,722
	Front of House Costs	7,547	1,887	9,434	13,673
	Recording Costs	-		-	-
	Commissions	16,575		16,575	14,500
	Sales Commissions	-		-	-
	Marketing and Sales Promotions	27,295		27,295	26,647
	Participation costs		23,076	23,076	59,056
	Mastercourse costs		-	-	15,016
	Young Artists Platform Costs	-	24,858	24,858	18,507
	Subtotal direct expenditure	231,980	94,962	326,942	390,870
	Governance and support costs	178,197	35,227	213,424	190,451
	Total expenditure on charitable
	activities	410,177	130,189	540,366	581,321

Oxford Lieder Notes to the Accounts

8. Analysis of governance and support costs

		Concert and	Learning
		stage	and
		performances	Participation	Grand total	Basis of allocation
		£	£	£
Salaries, wages and					Time spent per
related costs		101,928	17,986	119,914	activity
IT		14,306	5,856	20,162	Activity expenditure
					Time spent per
Professional Fees	Professional Fees	25,989	4,586	30,575	activity
					Time spent per
Artistic Directors Fees	Artistic Directors Fees	25,380	2,820	28,200	activity
Bank Charges		1,009	413	1,422	Activity expenditure
Insurance		1,538	271	1,809	Activity expenditure
Sundry Costs		8,048	3,294	11,342	Activity expenditure
Governance		-	-	-	Activity expenditure
	Total	178,197	35,227	213,424

9. Analysis of staff costs, Trustee remuneration and expenses, and the cost of key management personnel

		2024	2023
		£	£
Salaries and wages		98,055	77,498
Social security costs		38,376	38,548
	Total	136,431	116,046

No employees received employee benefits (excluding employer pension costs) for the reporting period of more than £60,000.

Trustees' remuneration and expenses

Neither the Trustees nor any persons connected with them have received any remuneration, either in the current year or the prior year.

Cost of key management personnel

The key management personnel of the charity comprise the Trustees, the Artistic Director, the Director of Administration & Finance, and the Development Director.

The total cost of key management personnel was £130,281 (2023: £120,856).

Oxford Lieder Notes to the Accounts

10. Staff Numbers

		2024	2023
Fundraising		1.4	1.3
Charitable Activities		4.8	4.8
	Total	6.2	6.1

11. Related party transactions

There are no related party transactions, apart from immaterial subscriptions and donations from Trustees. Donations made by Trustees totalled £82,960.50 for the year.

12. Corporation Taxation

The charity is exempt from tax on income and gains falling within section 505 of the Taxes Act 1988 or section 252 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 to the extent that these are applied to its charitable objects.

13. Grant making

		Grants to	Support
	Grants to institutions	individuals	costs	Total
	£	£	£	£
Learning and Participation		-	- -	- -
*Total*	- - - -	- - - -	- - - -	- - - -
*Debtors*
			2024	2023
			£	£
Prepayments and Accrued
Income			61,938	46,112
*Creditors: amounts falling due within one year*	*Creditors: amounts falling due within one year*
			2024	2023
			£	£
Bank loans and overdrafts			-	-
Accrued expenses			40,958	39,194
Unpaid Pension
Contributions
Deferred income and grants in advance			1825	-
			42,783	39,194

14. Debtors

15. Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

Oxford Lieder Notes to the Accounts

16. Deferred Incoming Resources & Reserves - Restricted funds

	Opening Deferrals		Released	Received	Deferred
			from prior	less	at year
			years	released in	end
				year
	£		£	£	£
Total
		0	-	-	0
			2024		2023
			£		£
These deferrals are included
in creditors			0		0

Grants and donations received in advance and specified by the donor as relating to specific accounting periods (or alternatively which are subject to conditions which are still to be met), and which are outside the control of the charity or where it is uncertain whether the conditions can or will be met, are deferred on an accruals basis to the period to which they relate. Such deferrals are shown in the notes to the accounts and the sums involved are shown as creditors in the accounts.

Oxford Lieder Notes to the Accounts

17. Analysis of charitable funds

17.1 Details of material funds held and movements during the CURRENT reporting period

Fund names	Fund type	Purpose and Restrictions	Fund balances brought forward £	Income £	Expenditure £	Transfers £	Gains and losses £	Fund balances carried forward £
Commissions	Restricted income	Restricted to the purpose of commissioning new artistic work, whether in music or other media.	45,000 14,000 (16,575)	45,000 14,000 (16,575)	45,000 14,000 (16,575)	-	-42,425	42,425
Learning and Participation	Restricted income	Restricted to the funding of Learning & Participation activities approved by the Trustees.	18,613 66,964 (43,344)	18,613 66,964 (43,344)	18,613 66,964 (43,344)		-42,233	42,233
Trufflehunter	Restricted income	Restricted to the purposes of support for young singers and musicians, such as through the Learning and Participation programme, and purchase of musical instruments. Such grants are made from time to time, in accordance with the expressed wishes of the sole donor to the Fund.	15,556	15,556-(4,591)	(4,591)		-10,965	10,965
Unrestricted	Unrestricted	Unrestricted income and expenditure.	96,191 660,843 (547,974)	96,191 660,843 (547,974)	96,191 660,843 (547,974)	(40,000)	-169,059	169,059
Special Contingency Fund	Unrestricted	Unrestricted income and expenditure, representing the portion of free reserves that may be considered for investment.	-	-	-40,000	40,000	40,000-40,000	40,000
Total Funds			175,361 741,807 (612,484) ~~a~~	175,361 741,807 (612,484)	175,361 741,807 (612,484)	-	-	304,684

Oxford Lieder Notes to the Accounts

17.2 Details of material funds held and movements during the PREVIOUS reporting period

Fund names	Fund type	Purpose and Restrictions	Fund balances brought forward £	Income £	Expenditure £	Transfers £	Gains and losses £	Fund balances carried forward £
Commissions	Restricted income	Restricted to the purpose of commissioning new artistic work, whether in music or other media.	45,000 14,500 (14,500)	45,000 14,500 (14,500)	45,000 14,500 (14,500)	- - 45,000	- - 45,000	- - 45,000
Learning and Participation	Restricted income	Restricted to the funding of Learning & Participation activities approved by the Trustees.	64,663 43,590 (89,640)	64,663 43,590 (89,640)	64,663 43,590 (89,640)		- 18,613	- 18,613
Trufflehunter ~~ee~~	Restricted income ~~ee~~	Restricted to the purposes of support for young singers and musicians, such as through the Learning and Participation programme, and purchase of musical instruments. Such grants are made from time to time, in accordance with the expressed wishes of the sole donor to the Fund. ~~ee~~	18,495 - (2,939) ~~ee~~	18,495 - (2,939) ~~ee~~ ~~eee~~	18,495 - (2,939) ~~ee~~ ~~eee~~	~~ee~~ ~~eee~~	- 15,556 ~~ee~~	- 15,556 ~~ee~~ ~~eee~~
Unrestricted ~~ee~~	Unrestricted ~~ee~~	Unrestricted income and expenditure ~~ee~~ ~~ty~~	97,754 544,800 (546,363) ~~ee~~ ~~ty~~	97,754 544,800 (546,363) ~~ee~~ ~~eee~~ ~~ty~~	97,754 544,800 (546,363) ~~ee~~ ~~eee~~	- - 96,191 ~~ee~~ ~~eee~~	- - 96,191 ~~ee~~	- - 96,191 ~~ee~~ ~~eee~~
Special Contingency Fund ~~ee~~ ~~p~~	Unrestricted ~~ee~~ ~~p~~	Unrestricted income and expenditure, representing the portion of free reserves that may be considered for investment. ~~ee~~ ~~ptt~~ ~~ty~~	- - - - - - ~~ee~~ ~~tt~~ ~~ty~~	- - - - - - ~~ee~~ ~~eee~~ ~~tt~~ ~~ty~~	- - - - - - ~~ee~~ ~~eee~~ ~~tt~~	- - - - - - ~~ee~~ ~~eee~~ ~~tt~~	- - - - - - ~~ee~~ ~~tt~~	- - - - - - ~~ee~~ ~~eee~~ ~~tt~~
Total Funds ~~ptt~~ ~~ty~~			225,912 602,890 (653,441) ~~tt~~ ~~ty~~	225,912 602,890 (653,441) ~~tt~~ ~~ty~~	225,912 602,890 (653,441) ~~tt~~	- ~~tt~~	-175,361 ~~tt~~	175,361 ~~tt~~

17.3 Transfers between funds

	Reason for transfer and where endowment is converted to income, legal power for its conversion	Amount £
Between unrestricted and restricted funds	Part of unrestricted surplus for the year transferred to cover restricted fund deficits.	-