## **Trustees’ Annual Report for the period**
**From 1[st] April 2023 To 31[st] March 2024**
**Charity name: The Octandre Ensemble**
## **Charity registration number: 1178461**
## **Objectives and Activities**
||SORP reference||
|---|---|---|
|Summary of the purposes of
the charity as set out in its
governing document|Para 1.17|To advance, develop and maintain the
public’s appreciation of and education
in the art of modern and
contemporary music, through the
presentation of public concerts
championing the work of
contemporary composers, and the
making and dissemination of
recordings.|
|Summary of the main
activities in relation to those
purposes for the public
benefit, in particular, the
activities, projects or
services identified in the
accounts.|Para 1.17 and
1.19|In 2023-2024, Octandre released a CD
recorded in 2022 on Another Timbre
records, recorded and released another CD
on the Winter and Winter label, and made
another recording, with a view to arranging
for a commercial release. All three projects
involved British composers, at early, mid,
and late career stages.|
|Statement confirming
whether the trustees have
had regard to the guidance
issued by the Charity
Commission on public
benefit|Para 1.18|The Trustees have had regard to the
guidance issued by the Charity
Commission on public beneft.|
## **Additional information (optional)** You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:
SORP reference Para 1.38 Policy on grant making Para 1.38 Policy on social investment including program related investment Para 1.38 Contribution made by
volunteers Other
## **Achievements and Performance**
||SORP reference||
|---|---|---|
|Summary of the main
achievements of the charity,
identifying the difference the
charity’s work has made to
the circumstances of its
beneficiaries and any wider
benefits to society as a
whole.|Para 1.20|The Octandre ensemble specialises in
performing repertoire that is either very
much overlooked and thus rarely
performed, or uniquely written for particular
performers. We aim to make accessible
high quality performances and recordings
of music that would otherwise not be heard
by our beneficiaries – the general public
and various subsections thereof. In the
year 2023-24, our activity focussed on
recording projects.
**Releasing Frank Denyer CD, ‘Screens’**
**(Nov 23):**November 2023 saw the
culmination of a long-term project, with the
release of Frank Denyer’s retrospective
chamber music CD,_Screens_, on Another
Timbre records. Fundraising began in
February 2023, and we are grateful to the
PRS Foundation, The RVW Trust (now the
Vaughan Williams Foundation), and the
Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung for
support. The disc involved 18 musicians,
playing works written over 50 years, for a
wide variety of ensembles. Every track on
the disc is a World-Premiere recording. The
disc received some very positive reviews. It
is a document of a unique voice within
British contemporary music, performed by
specialist musicians of the composer’s
choice.
**Recording with Ed Cooper:**
In March 2023 we recorded_… as far as…_
_unloving still… down on your stomach…_by
Leeds University Ph.D candidate Ed
Cooper. Planned as part of his forthcoming
debut CD ‘Chambers’, it is scored for the
unique line up of contrabass flute, two bass
clarinets, and two double basses. The 26-
minute-long piece was recorded at
Goldsmiths Music Studios bySean
Woodlock
on 26 March 2023. With each
player straining for lowness amongst
overlaid and unclear heartbeats, again
through a selection of destabilising
techniques, the music inhabits a world of|
deep, hollow melodies, with harmonies being introduced and disrupted through the mêlée of bodies. **Christian Mason CD: Time-SpaceSound-Light:** In August 2023, four Octandre musicians, including the composer Christian Mason, recorded music for a CD to be released on the German label, Winter and Winter. The project, ‘Time-Space-Sound-Light’, is a chamber music cycle for flute, cello, piano and electronics and auxiliary instruments, which was written especially for the individuals in the ensemble, and which they have performed twice before. A number of the pieces were written to be performed in the unique acoustic of the Internationales Kunstlerhaus Villa Concordia, in Bamberg, Germany. We are grateful to the Kunstlerhaus for supporting the project, and also to the Vaughan Williams Foundation and the Marchus Trust. The disc was released in March 2024 to critical acclaim, including being longlisted for the _Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik_ .
## **Additional information (optional)** You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:
|Achievements against
objectives set|Para 1.41||
|---|---|---|
|Performance of fundraising
activities against objectives
set|Para 1.41||
|Investment performance
against objectives|Para 1.41||
|Other|||
## **Financial Review**
|Review of the charity’s
financial position at the end
of the period|Para 1.21|At the end of 23/24, the accounts
were balanced, with no moneys owed
or owing to or by the CIO.|
|---|---|---|
|Statement explaining the
policy for holding reserves
stating why they are held|Para 1.22|At the most recent AGM the Trustees
discussed holding reserves, and they
agreed that it is sensible to hold £1,000-
£2,000. The funds available from one
project to the next vary greatly. Taking that
into account, the Trustees resolved that the
organisation should seek, where possible,
to hold back at least 5% of a given project
budget.
Reserves will be held to cover running
costs such as bank charges; unforeseen or
urgent project costs, or, in exceptional
circumstances,to topup project budgets.|
|Amount of reservesheld|Para 1.22|£1,928|
|Reasons for holding zero
reserves|Para 1.22|n/a|
|Details of fund materially in
deficit|Para 1.24|The CIO has no funds or subsidiary
undertakings that are materially in
defcit|
|Explanation of any
uncertainties about the
charity continuing as a going
concern|Para 1.23|At the date of approving the report
and accounts, there are no
uncertainties about the charity’s
abilityto continue as a going concern.|
## **Additional information (optional)**
|**Additional information (optional)**|**Additional information (optional)**|**Additional information (optional)**|
|---|---|---|
|You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:|||
|The charity’s principal
sources of funds (including
any fundraising)|Para 1.47|The sources of funding for the CIO
during the period 2023/24 was
payments from hirers (University of
Leeds, funded by a White Rose AHRC
grant, a Westminster School payment
for a workshop during 2022/23) and
an award from the Vaughan Williams
Foundation.|
|Investment policy and
objectives including any
social investment policy
adopted|Para 1.46||
|A description of the principal
risks facing the charity|Para 1.46||
|Other|||
## **Structure, Governance and Management**
Description of charity’s trusts:
|Type of governing document
(trust deed, royal charter)|Para 1.25|Consttuton|
|---|---|---|
|How is the charity
constituted?
(e.g unincorporated
association, CIO)|Para 1.25|Charitable Incorporated Organisaton|
|Trustee selection methods
including details of any
constitutional provisions e.g.
election to post or name of
any person or body entitled
to appoint one or more
trustees|Para 1.25|Appointed by resoluton|
## **Additional information (optional)**
## You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:
|
Policies and procedures
adopted for the induction
and training of trustees|
Para 1.51||
|---|---|---|
|The charity’s organisational
structure and any wider
network with which the
charity works|Para 1.51||
|Relationship with any related
parties|Para 1.51||
|Other|||
## **Reference and Administrative details**
|Charity name|Octandre Ensemble|
|---|---|
|Other name the charity uses||
|Registered charity number|1178461|
|Charity’s principal address|21 Polsted Road,
London
SE6 4YH|
|||
## **Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity**
|1
2
3
4|**Trustee name**|**Office (if any)**|**Dates acted if not for whole**
**year**|**Name of person**
**(or body) entitled**
**to appoint trustee**
**(ifany)**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||Richard Bernas|Chair|||
||Sarah Holford||||
||Guillaume
Descottes||||
||Christian Mason|Treasurer|||
– Corporate trustees names of the directors at the date the report was approved **Director name**
Name of trustees holding title to property belonging to the charity
**Trustee name Dates acted if not for whole year**
## **Funds held as custodian trustees on behalf of others**
Description of the assets held in this capacity
Name and objects of the charity on whose behalf the assets are held and how this falls within the custodian charity’s objects
Details of arrangements for safe custody and segregation of such assets from the charity’s own assets
## **Additional information (optional)**
## **Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)**
**Type of Name Address adviser**
## **Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)**
## **Exemptions from disclosure**
Reason for non-disclosure of key personnel details
## **Other optional information**
## **Declarations**
**The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.**
**Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees**
**Signature(s)** Mason **Full name(s)** Christian **Position (eg Secretary,** Treasurer **Chair, etc) Date** 23rd January, 2025
## Annual accounts for 2023 – 2024
|INCOME|||
|---|---|---|
|Balance brought forward from 31 March 2023|£10,334.50||
|Hire of Ensemble|£4,622.88||
|Grants/Awards|£2,000||
|TOTAL INCOME|£6,622.88||
|PLUS BROUGHT FORWARD|£16,957.38||
||||
|EXPENDITURE|||
|Recording Engineer|£3,000||
|Equipment purchase|£290.85||
|Printing|£90.14||
|Artists’travel and accommodation|£4,837.86||
|Promotional videos for CD release|£600||
|Bank Charges|£60||
|SUB-TOTAL|£8,878.85||
|Musicians’fees|£7,063.20||
|TOTAL EXPENDITURE|£16,042.05||
||||
|BALANCE IN BANK ACCOUNT|£915.33||
|LESS COMMITTED FUNDS:|£0||
|LESS ALLOCATED FUNDS:|£0||
|TOTAL OF COMMITTED & ALLOCATED FUNDS|£0||
|WORKING ACCOUNT BALANCE|£915.33||