York Chamber Music Festival AGM
3 June 2021
Present:
Jill Shepherd, Ray Walker, Stella Waller, Tim Lowe, Stuart Lowe, Sue Lowe, Robert Gammon and Alison Gammon
Annual Report (notes attached)
Stuart was thanked for preparing the report. It was decided to remove the sentence regarding future streaming.
Accounts
Stuart was thanked for his hard work in preparing the accounts.
It was decided that the accounts should show what money we hold in reserves in addition to expenditure and income. – Stuart to add that information.
A question was raised about whether we need to have the accounts audited, but it is not required if our turnover is below £25,000.
The Annual Report and Accounts were accepted with minor modifications.
Date of next AGM
The date of the next AGM (early June 2022) is to be decided at the meeting of the Trustees on 3 October 2021.
Notes From the Trustees Planning Meeting Following the AGM
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Post Festival meeting booked for Sunday 3[rd] October
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Recording events and online streaming. This costs a lot and Angela Hewitt may not agree to do chamber music if we are streaming it. Tim to ask the musicians if they would mind streaming, if it looks like we will have a small audience. Robert to update the Trustees with costs of streaming from the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall if he finds out anything via the BMS. It was decided to keep the Donate button if we do stream the concerts, as we did get some, but not very much income that way.
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Concert Hall. There is a potential problem if the University cancel our booking. They are planning over the summer how to open up after the Covid–19 lockdowns, so we will need a plan in case they are not going to allow access to the general public. It
was decided that St. Lawrence’s Church would be a possible alternative location and it was decided Alison should contact the churchwarden Kevin Atkinson about a possible booking. Tim will find out about the possibility of using the Guildhall. In addition, if the SJLCH can only accommodate 58 with social distancing, will we be still charged the full hire fee?
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First Aid at Concerts. All the trustees’ First Aid certificates have expired, so it was decided to book St John Ambulance for the evening concerts that are not at the NCEM. The first aiders do get booked up, so it is important to do this early.
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Tickets. These are being sold by the NCEM as before. It may be necessary to limit supply if social distancing measures are still in place, and then release more tickets later if we are allowed a bigger audience.
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Publicity. Stuart and Alison to email What’s On in York with details of the concerts, so that anyone planning a holiday will know about them. Posters and leaflets to be distributed, especially to hotels. It may be necessary to say in the publicity that there may be a change of location due to Covid, and to check the website for more details. Usually there is a mailshot from the University with lots of concert details, but we don’t know whether this will happen. Celia is leaving her post as the university concerts organiser, and Hari will help out in the meantime.
York Chamber Music Festival 2021 AGM
Chair’s Report (03/06/21)
YORK CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL 2021
16 – 18 September
Chair’s report
Clearly there were still uncertainties about th return to live performance after last year. But we were happy, that’s to the support of Hugh Richards and Tim plying her with red wine at their dinner party (!) that Angela Hewitt came to play a recital and to joined the other festival artists for a gala concert. The world famous violinist Anthony Marwood returned with two other fantastic string players, Pablo Herman (Violin) and Lilli Maijala (viola) and the wonderful pianist John Paul Ekins was also with us to make up our team for 2021.
Angela Hewitt brought an enticing programme for her recital which speaks for itself. It was a joyous occasion and much to our delight was nearly sold out. This was really the first post-pandemic concert and although face coverings were in evidence it seemed that we were in a ‘new normal’
situation. Angela was thrilled and happy that after her recital she sold and signed quite a few of her recent CDs.
In other concerts we continued our exploration of Schumann’s unique musical imagination – “…miracle after miracle” as Steven Isserlis said – plus our beloved Mozart/Haydn/Mendelssohn. We ended the festival with one of the most sunlit chamber music works, Dvorak’s Piano Quintet with Angela Hewitt joining the other festival artists.
Going forward it is doubtful whether we can afford the costs of live-streaming our concerts and in theory we are a ‘live’ concert series and should play to this.
Many thank are owed to the Hugh Richard Trust who paid for Angela to come to York and underpinned the rest of our budget deficit. As we have previously noted ticket income covers only about or less than the costs of running the festival and bringing top class chamber music to York. I would also like to note the ‘rave reviews’ that we received in the local press and this is always helpful to us moving on to thinking about the 2022 festival. Also a very big thank you to all of the trustees and stewards who have made this season truly memorable.
Programme
EVENT ONE
Thursday 16 September 7:30pm Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York
Recital - Angela Hewitt (Piano)
François ‘Le Grand’ Couperin Book III Dix-Huitième OrdreWolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791) Piano Sonata No. 6 in D major, K.28
Johann Sebastian Bach Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 894
Johann Sebastian Bach - English Suite No. 4 in F major, BWV 809
Johann Sebastian Bach - (arr. d’Albert) Passacaglia in C minor, BWV 582
EVENT TWO
Friday 17 September 1:00pm – 2:00pm Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York
Lunchtime Recital by Tim Lowe (cello) and John Paul Ekins (Piano)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827) 12 Variations on a Theme from Handel’s oratorio Judas Maccabaeus Wo0 45
Robert Schumann (1810 – 1856) Fantasiestücke , for Cello and Piano, Op. 73 Sergei Rachmaninov (1873 – 1943) Sonata for Cello and Piano in in G minor, Op. 19
EVENT THREE
Friday 17 September 7:30pm National Centre for Early Music, St Margaret’s Church
Concert by Festival Artists
Anthony Marwood and Pablo Herman (Violins) , Lilli Maijala (viola) Tim Lowe (cello)
Josef Haydn String Quartet in C Major, Op. 54, No. 2
Felix Mendelssohn String Quartet No. 6 in F minor, Op. 80
Anton Webern Langsamer Satz (Slow Movement)
Robert Schumann String Quartet in A minor, Op. 41, No. 1
EVENT FOUR
Saturday 18 September 1:00pm – 2:00pm Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York Lunchtime Recital by John Paul Ekins (Piano)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827) Piano Sonata No. 27 in E Minor, Op. 90
Franz Liszt (1811 – 1886) Sonetto del Petrarca, S.270/2
Franz Liszt - Liebesträume No. 1 in A Flat, S.541/1
Ludwig van Beethoven - Adelaide Op. 46, (arr. for piano by F. Liszt)
EVENT FIVE
Saturday 18 September 7.30pm Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York
Gala Concert by Festival Artists
Anthony Marwood and Pablo Herman (Violins)
Lilli Maijala (viola) Tim Lowe (cello)
Angela Hewitt (piano)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791) String Quartet No. 17 "The Hunt", K. 458 Gustav Mahler (1860 – 1911) Piano Quartet in A Minor
Antonín Dvořák (1841 – 1904) Piano Quintet in A Major, Op. 81
YORK CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL 2021 Financial statement
| Expenses | £ | |
|---|---|---|
| Venues | ||
| Unitarian Chapel (2x recitals) | 250 | |
| National Centre for Early Music | 425 | |
| Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall | ||
| University of York (two concerts) | ||
| Administration: | 300 | |
| Porter: | 141 | |
| Lighting Technician | 210 | |
| Event Manager: | 100 | |
| Use of Steinway D piano: | 200 | |
| total | 951 |
|
| Total venue hire/costs | 1,626 | |
| Piano tuners | 295 | |
| Public liability insurance | 231 | |
| Red Bonsai (website, brochures) | 2,860 | |
| Programmes | 871 | |
| Hotel rooms | 1,302 | |
| Breakfasts | 85 | |
| Prezzo | 255 | |
| Other costs | ||
| Parking |
11 | |
| Alison Gammon | 62 | |
| (food for performers) | ||
| Visit York (fees) | 236 | |
| Photographer | 286 | |
| St John’s Ambulance (x2) | 330 | |
| Total expenses | 8,450 | |
| Performers fees | £ | |
| Angela Hewitt | 5,000 | |
| Anthony Marwood | 1,500 | |
| Lilli Maijala | 1,000 | |
| Martyn Jackson | 1,000 | |
| JP Ekins | 1,000 | |
| Tim Lowe | 1,000 | |
| Total fees | 10,500 |
| INCOME | |
|---|---|
| Ticket income | 6,242 |
| Programme sales | 620 |
| 6,862 | |
| Hugh Richards Trust | |
| 5,000 (Angela Hewitt fee) | |
| Other fees/expenses | 7,088 |
| 12,088 | |
| Total expenses | 18,950 |
| Total income | 18,950 |
Small Surplus from Hugh Richard Trust moved to bank account