YORK CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL 2020 ONLINE 18 – 20 September 2020
Annual Report
Presented to the AGM 8:30pm via Zoom 3[rd] June 2021
The Festival trustees Stuart Lowe (Chair), Tim Lowe (Artistic Director), Alison Gammon, Robert Gammon, Jill Shepherd, Stella Waller, Ray Walker.
Due to Covid-19 restrictions the live festival was cancelled. It was decided to reconceive the core concerts as online events. This was facilitated by the National Centre for Early Music who kindly offered us their superb premises and use of their live-stream equipment and technicians. This was offered at a very generous price. Due to the donors’ support, who basically underwrote the festival, we decided to make it free-to-view but add a donate facility to the website. The idea here was to reach out to new audience via the internet and our social media presence. We have an email list of over 300 supporters (all people who have bought tickets in the past and wanted to be kept in touch).
It was not possible to run the masterclasses for young musicians due to Covid restrictions.
As usual the players rehearsed in London for several days before travelling up to York either on the day of the first recording or the day before. Each concert was rehearsed and sound checked etc and the programme for those concerts were played as originally planned on each of the three days of the festival.
This was, of course, an entirely new experience and a great deal was learned from it for future reference and discussion. Key features of the streaming are outlined below:
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On the first day 367 users visited the website and we assume mostly they were watching the concert. Judging by the comments there was often more than one person watching (some of them we know were in couples). This might put the figure watching on the first night at about 500, probably more . Second concert 450 and the third over 300.
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This suggests about 1,500 viewers over the three days. Both Wix and Google suggest new users were 70 -75% of the total; our loyal followers plus quite a few newcomers. So this was a good outcome More people watched than if ‘live’ and many new contacts made.
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Both Wix and Google suggest about 2,000 site visits during the weeks before the festival, quite a global spread.
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We have added 50 new email addresses to our Wix email list – all have consented.
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We had 70 donors ranging from £3 to £200. (This is consistent with London Mozart Players finding that 15-20% of viewers donated).
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Total cost of running the festival was £15,000 ( players’ fees, accommodation, NCEM, website/streaming technicians).
We brought international standard chamber music to York. Many comments came in saying how lovely it was to have live high class chamber music. We reacted to a few comments about not bowing on the first night. Probably need to pre-record the introductions (this time filmed either immediately before playing or afterwards).
The players were very happy to be here and had enjoyed the rehearsals in London. We had an audience of about 1,500 spread over the three concerts. This is more people than would have been at the live events had they taken place.
“Festival Feedback”
People are coming back or catching up on concerts they missed THEY ARE STILL ONLINE ON THE WEBSITE free to view.
Comments coming in were very appreciative of the music and the musicians. This is a small sample of the many messages that came in…
“That was absolutely wonderful! We are still stamping our feet…”
“Just to let you know, I watched all three concerts in the evenings in California; they were really wonderful. I also enjoyed seeing the performers close up with nothing to obscure my view. I thought the camera work was excellent too.”
“I've just had such a lovely weekend listening to live chamber music! I want to thank all concerned most warmly…”
Tim Lowe (Artistic Director) comments,
“…it was worth all the effort and from the musicians’ perspective we thoroughly enjoyed getting together to rehearse and play such great music AND we celebrated Beethoven’s 250[th] anniversary as we said we would. We had a ball! I hope our audience did too…Many thanks to everyone who watched and especially those who donated. I am thrilled that the 2020 festival brought great music to York…”
“Wow Wow Wow!! And you can quote me on that! (Kate Billimore)”
We are now looking forward to September 2021 when we are excited that the pianist Angela Hewitt is joining us.
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SUMMARY
Live-streaming three concerts from the National Centre for Early Music in York reached out to an audience of about 1,500 over the three evenings and people are still watching as the concerts remain on the website.
Our main donors the Hugh Richards Trust and the Holbeck Trust underwrote the expenses and we drew on reserves to balance the account.
Young musician masterclasses had to be abandoned due to Covid restrictions.
Everyone involved felt it was a worthwhile project…to reach out during the Covid lockdown, including to overseas viewers. We have gained some new email addresses. York Chamber Music Festival 2020 was a tremendous artistic success, bringing international standard music to the city.
Programmes
All live-streamed from the National Centre for Early Music, St. Margaret’s Church.
EVENT ONE Friday 18 September 7.30pm
Ludwig van Beethoven - String Trio in G Major Op. 9 No. 1 Herbert Howells - Fantasy String Quartet, Op. 25 Interval
Robert Schumann - Piano Quintet in E Flat Major, Op. 44
EVENT TWO Saturday 19 September 7.30pm
Ludwig van Beethoven - String Quartet No. 1 in F major, Op.18, No. 1 Josef Suk - Piano Quartet in A Minor, Op.1 Interval César Franck - Piano Quintet in F minor
EVENT THREE Sunday 20 September 7.30pm
Ludwig van Beethoven - String Quintet in C Major, Op. 29 Antonín Dvořák - String Quintet in E Flat Major, Op. 97
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York Chamber Music Festival 2020 On-line
Financial statement for the year ended 31 March 2021
Festival dates 18 – 20 September 2020
Account
| Expenditure |
|
|---|---|
| £ | |
| Hire of National Centre for Early Music (inc flming/live stream) | |
| 3,240 (inc VAT) | |
| Artists’ fees | |
| Jon Thorne | |
| Charlotte Scott | |
| Simon Blendis | |
| Tim Lowe | |
| Matthew Jones | |
| Katya Apekisheva | |
| 7,200 | |
| Accommodation at The Bar Convent hotel, York | |
| 680 | |
| Website design/ live streaming (by Red Bonsai) | 2,481 |
| Annual hosting fee | |
| 187.20 | |
| Ryedale Festival brochure advert | 342 |
| Hardcopy brochure | 960 |
| Piano tuner | 96.50 |
| Performing rights | 85 |
| Sundries – printer cartridge/paper, local travel | |
| 35 | |
| TOTAL | |
| 15,306.70 | |
| Income | |
| Donations via website in lieu of tickets | 3,589 |
| Holbeck Trust | 1,000 |
| Hugh Richards Trust | 7,000 |
| Sue and Stuart Lowe | 1,461 |
| YCMF reserve | |
| 2,256.70 |
TOTAL
15,306.70
Bankers: Barclays Bank, 1 – 3 Parliament Street, York, Yo1 8SE