London Firebird Orchestra
Company Registration No. 8392959 Registered Charity Number: 1151014
Report of Activities for the year ending 29 February 2024
During the period five orchestral concerts and two chamber concerts took place. Music by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Sir Edward Elgar, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Yury Revich and Ruth Gipps was performed by the orchestra. Firebird’s two Principal Guest Conductors, George Jackson and Michael Thrift, conducted the concerts. The orchestra collaborated with a stunning range of fantastic soloists including Jonathan Leibovitz, Maciej Kulakowski, Yury Revich and Harris Tsz-Chun Leung. Two student pianists performed piano concertos at a private concert. Two chamber ensembles – the Trio de Beauvoir and the Avalon Trio - gave recitals featuring piano trios by Haydn, Beethoven, Fanny Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and Gabriela Lena-Frank. Shortly after the period ended a further Firebird for Schools Concert took place. Overall, the wideranging repertoire enabled Firebird’s young musicians to explore works by living composers, female composers and lesser-known pieces alongside well-established classics.
Audience numbers continued to increase, alongside voluntary income. The size and number of donations from the Friends and Benefactors of the orchestra rose happily. Players took part in just one engagement during the period, at a Christmas charity event. A restructuring at the music department of a local university lead to a reduction in engagement requests from there. Temporarily, the orchestra produced fewer audio-visual recordings of concerts due to the lack of availability of its AV team. Activity in this area restored itself after the period. As is typical well over half of expenditure amounted to payments to performing artists. Most of the concerts took place at St George’s Hanover Square in central London. One concert took place at Kings Place in Kings Cross as part of a collaboration with the London Chamber Music Society. This was originally to have taken place during the coronation weekend, but was successfully rescheduled.
The period ended with a healthy surplus. Future plans include increasing the orchestra’s offering to its players and a busy forthcoming concert season.
November 2024
David Baty (Chairman) , Marc Corbett-Weaver (Artistic Director) , Michael Manning Clark, Roderick Graham, Philip Rowley, James Saunders, Stephen Wilson Trustees of London Firebird Orchestra
For further information about London Firebird Orchestra please visit: www.LondonFirebird.com
London Firebird Orchestra
Company Registration No. 8392959 Registered Charity Number: 1151014
Financial Statements for the year ending 29 February 2024
| Notes Income 1 Concert income 2 Engagement fees 3 Voluntary income 4 Gift Aid Total Income Expenses 5 Payments to performing artists 6 Concert expenses 7 Recordings 8 Promotion 9 Insurance 10 Bank charges Total Expenses Surplus / (Deficit) for the year |
Year to 29 Feb ’24 £ 18,276 1,850 51,149 12,395 83,670 42,073 26,945 315 2,203 1,469 133 73,138 10,531 |
Year to 28 Feb ‘23 £ 16,929 3,345 40,057 10,072 70,403 44,118 29,966 1,885 2,220 1,400 134 79,723 (9,320) |
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Notes
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1 Ticket sales and other income generated by the orchestra’s own productions.
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2 Fees paid by external promoters in respect of the orchestra’s performances.
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3 Gifts donated to support the orchestra’s work.
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6 Venue hire, hire of percussion equipment and other musical instruments, hire or purchase of sheet music, catering and ancillary expenses, management and production costs
London Firebird Orchestra
Company Registration No. 8392959 Registered Charity Number: 1151014
Balance Sheet as at 29 February 2024
| ASSETS Fixed Assets Current assets Cash at bank and in hand Total current assets Current liabilities Total current liabilities Net Assets CAPITAL & RESERVES Reserves brought forward Surplus / (Deficit) for year Total Reserves |
Year to 29 Feb ’24 £ 0 28,592 28,592 0 0 28,592 18,061 10,531 28,592 |
Year to 28 Feb ’23 £ 0 18,061 18,061 0 0 18,061 27,381 (9,320) 18,061 |
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