Annual Report Registered Charity 1186398
Charity Overview
&Piano is an organisation based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire that aims to promote the listening of, and participation in live classical music making, helping to support its relevance and appeal amongst new and existing audiences across the North of England.
Founded in 2018, our main output is an annual music festival - a week of classical music events around April & May: showcasing professional musicians with a connection to the area, performance opportunities for local young musicians and amateur musicians to participate in. Following our festival, we deliver an annual School Tour Recital in secondary schools around Huddersfield & Halifax, providing students with opportunities to experience live classical vocal and instrument music, and to engage and interact with professional musicians - all with the objective of ensuring classical music is enjoyed and appreciated across the region for years to come.
Cover image, ‘Ben Powell, Nick Trygstad & Anna Tulchinskaya perform Dvorak’s ‘Dumky’ Piano Trio (Photo by Alex Beldea)
Image below, Mezzo-Soprano Rebecca Anderson performs as the Princess in our 2025 Family&Piano event. (Photo by Alex Beldea)
1. Trustees’ Report
1.1 2025 Summary
2025 was another exciting and artistically successful year for &Piano, with further innovation in the programming and design of our events, exceptional musicians performing, closer partnerships with other local music organisations, and an expansion of the number of events that we present and offer outside of our festival week in May, providing even more opportunities to advance the education of the public in, and promote the understanding and appreciation of live music through performances at the highest standards of artistic & creative merit. The trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit.
1.2 Artistic Achievements
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•Presented 16 events featuring 27 professional performers
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•Presented 5 events that featured 50 participant performers
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•We were once again successful in receiving support from Arts Council England to support our 2025 Festival.
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•We expanded the number of venues used in the festival, including an acclaimed performance of Messaien’s Quartet for the End of Time in Zapato Brewing Tap House.
“I absolutely loved it. One of my best gig experiences. Loved the intimacy, loved the venue, loved the programme and loved the exceptional performance.” (Audience feedback for Quartet for the End of Time)
- •Presented our largest and most ambitious Musical Theatre event to date - a concert version of the rarely heard Musical Revue ‘It’s Only Life’ by John Bucchino, featuring a company of five professional Musical Theatre performers.
"Four of us in different age categories thought it was an excellent event. The acoustics in the church were great which enhanced the performances of the excellent singers . Incredible to be able to see such talented performers in a local venue.” (Audience feedback for our ‘It’s Only Life event)
- •We developed our Young Musician Performer programme by offering our very first masterclass, led by former leader of Opera North, David Greed.
“I wasn’t sure what to expect as I’ve not seen much live classical music before but I was blown away. It felt like a real privilege to watch such incredible singing and playing, especially in such an intimate space rather than on a huge stage. Me and my partner are still talking about it and have listened to the songs in German since.”
"A really lovely evening trying something entirely new - the ticket price made this very accessible. The small and intimate event made this very memorable.”
“The baritone, Marcus Farnsworth, was superb in his interpretation and quality of singing of ‘Winterreise’ with Chris Pulleyn’s ever brilliant accompanying. We were entranced throughout the whole programme.”
Feedback from our Winter Journey @ Dark Woods Coffee Event
School Tour 2025
We delivered our 4th annual School Tour across Kirklees & Calderdale, introducing students to baritone singer Neil Balfour & flautist Issy Hayley-Porteous, this year visiting a balanced number of schools in both council districts for the first time (four in each district).
This year we visited: Brooksbank School, Colne Valley High School, Halifax Academy, Lightcliffe Academy, Newsome Academy, Ryburn High School, Salendine Nook High School, Spen Valley High School, as well as visiting Slaithwaite Junior School.
"My pupils found the workshop thoroughly absorbing. At first they were not sure what to expect as they are not used to hearing opera singing or a flute being played. However, the openness of the performers, allied to their obvious enthusiasm, quickly gained the whole class's trust. From this point they felt confident to ask questions and offer their viewpoint about the selection of music they heard.”
Feedback from Lightcliffe Academy music teacher
Autumn Weekend
This year we had the opportunity to collaborate with a few local organisations to put together a weekend of events in October. This helped us to extend our work promoting live music of the highest standard, as well as offering more opportunities to support young musicians.
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•In a collaboration with Red Deer Club we presented an evening of piano-folk and neo-classical contemporary music by Natalie Wildgoose & Simeon Walker. This was a very different genre of music to our usual festival, but was extremely well received and attracted a rather different audience from our usual events.
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•In a collaboration with Musica Kirklees, we held a Piano Showcase to offer Musica piano students the opportunity to perform as part of &Piano, on the grand piano at Slaithwaite Civic Hall.
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•Finished the weekend with an Autumn-themed song recital by Halifax-born soprano Phoebe Smith.
“We went to the Simeon Walker gig and then decided to give the Sunday afternoon song recital a go too. It was something quite different for us, but we really enjoyed it. Great having the translations on the screen.”
Audience feedback from our Autumn Weekend events
Christmas Around the Piano
We finished the year off with our 2nd ‘Christmas around the Piano’ event at the North of England Centre for Music & Art in Marsden. Once again featuring a professional soloist singer performing alongside local musicians, singing as soloists and together as an ensemble.
This is quickly becoming an anticipated event in our calendar, and a great way to introduce people of all ages and experiences to a variety of different music in a very entertaining format.
2. Financials
2.1 Financial Summary
Income: £21,185 Expenditure: £21,965 Deficit: -£780 End of year balance: £2,254
2.2 Financial Overview
2025 was a sound year financially for the charity, despite a few funding challenges. We were once again extremely fortunate & grateful to be successful with another Arts Council England grant to support the festival. We were not successful with every grant we applied for, which is to be expected given the very competitive funding climate, however the current size of the charity means that we are easily able to adapt quickly to changing circumstances, and just under half of our income was generated from other income sources (ticket sales, donations and sponsorship). As a result, we were still able to deliver all of our planned 2025 Festival events and school tour, without compromising on our artistic vision or quality, which resulted in our audience feedback and satisfaction being exceptionally high and glowing. Budgets were adjusted accordingly and the charity used a small amount of the surplus we had built the previous year, which has still resulted in us holding a surplus slightly above our reserves policy of £1500, and maintaining an balance at the end of the year similar to previous years.
This year we formally launched a Business Sponsorship Package, which resulted in a number of local businesses supporting the festival, which was really vital in helping us deliver our planned activities, and we hope to build on this sponsorship plan to further diversify our funding sources, and help to minimise our dependency on grants and trusts, which are increasingly competitive to apply for.
Our October weekend of events were supported solely by ticket revenue and the support of our individual donors. We continue to try and look into events that allow us to be as self-sufficient as possible, while also looking at how we can build our resilience and preparation when funding is extremely competitive.
2.3 Reserves
The trustees of the charity agree that a minimum reserve of £1500 should be held by the charity.
With no outstanding debts or recurring overheads, this amount is currently considered sufficient by the trustees to help the charity begin planning for the following year’s festival. As we continue to develop the festival and hire key freelance staff, we are looking at ways to be able to to sustain ongoing work year-round, and as such need to review and plan how we might be able to sustain financial activity and costs longer term.
3. Governance & Management
AndPiano is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, governed by a Board of Trustees, who oversee the strategic direction of the organisation. The board is responsible for ensuring compliance with all regulatory requirements and upholding the organisation’s charitable objectives, as well as reviewing the constitution as our governing document.
Board of Trustees:
Chair: Heidi Johnson Treasurer: Peter Sunderland Trustees: Isabel Chadha, Marc Dunleavy, David Heathcote, Jennifer Pulleyn
Artistic Director: Christopher Pulleyn
4. Acknowledgements
&Piano would like to express our sincere gratitude to all of our supporters, audiences, participants and volunteers for supporting &Piano throughout 2025. A special thanks particularly go to our 88 Keys supporters, and to Arts Council England for once again supporting the festival - without their support our work would not be possible.
We would also like to thank all the artists who performed in our events throughout 2025 for their dedication and artistry, helping to make &Piano 2025 another critical success and for helping us to promote and celebrate so much amazing music.
5. Conclusion
2025 was &Piano’s busiest & most ambitious festival to date, delivering events throughout the whole year that deliver on our charitable objects to ‘advance the education of the public in, and promote the understanding, appreciation, composition and performance of live music, and thereby the advancement of the arts, culture and education for the public benefit’.
We received some of our most glowing audience feedback to date, indicating that &Piano is quickly gaining a reputation for showcasing classical chamber music of the highest standards, in accessible and engaging formats for both new and existing audiences, while also providing excellent opportunities for local musicians to perform and develop through the organisation.
We look forward to building on the success of this year - to continue presenting accessible and engaging events in innovative formats, celebrating classical music and showcasing exceptional musicians from across the region.
Heidi Johnson, Chair 26.07.26
| &Piano - Receipts & Payments -31/12/ 2025 | |||||
| REFERENCE | Unrestricted | Restricted | Total |
2024 |
|
| £ | £ | £ | £ | ||
| INCOME | |||||
| Restricted income | |||||
| Grants: Trusts & Foundations | £3,200 | ||||
| Grants: Trusts(Foyle Foundation) | £4,000 | ||||
| Grants: Lotteryfunding (inc. Arts Council England) | £12,000 | £12,000 | £7,500 | ||
| Grants: Other(e.g.government) | |||||
| Grants: Contracts, partner orgfunding) | |||||
| Sub total | £0 £12,000 £12,000 £14,700 |
||||
| Ticket income | £6,128 | £6,128 | £5,720 | ||
| Individual Donations | £1,164 | £1,164 | £2,755 | ||
| Corporate support / sponsorship | £1,530 | £1,530 | |||
| Gift Aid | £363 | £363 | |||
| Sub total | £9,185 £0 £9,185 £8,475 |
||||
| TOTAL INCOME | £9,185 £12,000 £21,185 £23,175 |
||||
| EXPENDITURE | |||||
| Artist fees(Festival) | £3,543 | £2,817 | £6,360 | £8,938 | |
| Artist fees(Schooll) | £594 | £1,750 | £2,344 | £2,226 | |
| Artist expenses | £1,000 | £883 | £1,883 | £505 | |
| Capital equipment | £0 | £307 | |||
| Fees and subscriptions | £194 | £194 | £95 | ||
| Insurance | £236 | £236 | £234 | ||
| Marketing/Advertising | £1,235 | £1,000 | £2,235 | £2,427 | |
| Office supplies | £23 | £23 | £0 | ||
| Organisational Development(e.g. trainingfor staff/trustees) | £0 | £0 | |||
| Photography/media | £130 | £800 | £930 | £1,050 | |
| Piano / Equipment hire | £1,752 | £2,000 | £3,752 | £1,731 | |
| Small sundryamounts | £411 | £250 | £661 | £632 | |
| Staffing: Artistic Director | £250 | £2,000 | £2,250 | £2,000 | |
| Ticket refund | £0 | £0 | |||
| Venue hire | £453 | £500 | £953 | £810 | |
| Web and IT(website hosting,support and software) | £144 | £144 | £118 | ||
| TOTAL EXPENDITURE | £9,965 £12,000 £21,965 £21,073 |
||||
| ANNUAL SURPLUS(DEFICIT) | -£780 £0 -£780 £2,102 |
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| Closingbalance December 2025 | £2,254 |
27.07.26