2024-10-31-accounts - Ensemble Orquesta

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FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED

31st OCTOBER 2024

Charitable company limited by guarantee and not having a share capital Company number: 12981274 Charity number: 1194030

INDEX

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION.........................................................2 TRUSTEES' REPORT............................................................................................................. 3 Objectives of the Charity.................................................................................................... 3 Structure, governance and management...........................................................................3 Achievements and performances.......................................................................................3 Public benefit......................................................................................................................5 Fundraising and fundraising practices................................................................................5 Financial review..................................................................................................................6 Reserves............................................................................................................................ 6 Risk review.........................................................................................................................7 TRUSTEES’ RESPONSIBILITIES...........................................................................................7 INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT ON THE ACCOUNTS............................................ 8 STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST OCTOBER 2024................................................................... 9 NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST OCTOBER 2024..................................................................11

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Charity Name Ensemble OrQuesta Trustees and Directors Sabrina Rodriguez (Chairman appointed 26 July 2022) Oliver Doyle Dr Carolyn May Caryl Hosein (Financial Officer) Artistic Director Marcio da Silva Managing Director Helen May Registered Office 81 Battle Road, St. Leonards-On-Sea, England, TN37 7AB

Registered Company Number 12981274 Registered Charity Number 1194030 Solicitors Reed Smith The Broadgate Tower 20 Primrose Street London EC2A 2RS Bankers Metro Bank 4-8 St John’s Road Clapham London SW11 1PN

Website

www.ensembleorquesta.com

TRUSTEES' REPORT

The Trustees, who are also the Directors for the purposes of company law, have pleasure in presenting the annual report together with the independently examined financial statements of Ensemble OrQuesta for the year ended 31st October 2024. These are also prepared to meet the requirement for a directors’ report and accounts for Companies Act purposes.

The financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Companies Act 2006 and are presented in accordance with the guidance of SORP 2019. The Trustees confirm that they have had regard to the Charity Commission Guidance in respect of Public Benefit when reviewing the Charity’s aims and objectives and planning future activities. In particular, they have considered how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives that have been set.

Objectives of the Charity

The Charity’s objectives are:

To promote art for the benefit of the public by the production and performance of early opera; and
Locating, editing, adapting and publishing early music that is otherwise inaccessible to the general public.

Structure, governance and management

The Musical Director, Marcio da Silva, and Company Manager, Helen May, who are not Trustees, run all aspects of the day – to – day business of the Charity and are responsible for business planning and fund-raising efforts.

The Board approves the annual business plan and monitors the performance of the Charity against the Plan during the year. It also approves any strategic decisions, financial commitments and monitors any significant risks facing the Charity.

Achievements and performances

October 30 2023 - October 31 2024

We opened the 2023-24 Season with a return by invitation to the recognised fringe venue, The Cockpit, where EO continues to build a loyal audience base, with an inaugural production of a Mozart opera, ‘ Le Nozze di Figaro’ . In line with the evolving strategy of the charity to expand reach to new audiences with more well known 18th century operas, this brand new minimalist production by Marcio da Silva featured EO company members accompanied by a Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra Ensemble, conducted by Predrag Gosta. This was performed for four consecutive nights from 21-24 February 2024, including one performance by the EO Opera Academy.

Ensemble OrQuesta would like to extend its grateful thanks to the Garrick Charitable Trust and the Cavalli Foundation for their support of this production.

In May, we ran our first EO Opera Academy at The Cockpit Theatre in London since 2019, featuring a new minimalist production of Handel’s ‘ Semele’ by Marcio da Silva accompanied by Ensemble OrQuesta Baroque from 3-4 May 2024. This was followed by a further EO Opera Academy and performance of Cavalli’s ‘ La Calisto ’ at Rye Creative Center in Rye from 8-9th June 2024. Following challenges securing places for ‘La Calisto’, the Board agreed on expanding to more popular repertoire like Mozart for future Academies, particularly where located in Hastings.

Following this successful run of performances and Academies, Ensemble OrQuesta Baroque led an exciting Outreach Project , performing with the HPO’s children’s choir ‘ HPO Songbirds ’ as part of the HPO Open Doors Festival on 6th July at Christ Church in St-Leonards, Hastings. These Open Doors events are designed to increase community cultural engagement by offering accessible and lively free of charge performances in public places such as car parks and shopping centres, by presenting a range of dynamic and exciting concerts in a variety of local venues, and by organising cross-age-range participation projects and performances in partnership with local organisations.

This outreach project was followed by a successful close to the 2023-24 season by returning to the popular Grimeborn Festival with a further run of our minimalist production of Mozart’s ‘Le Nozze di Figaro’ from 27-31 August 2024, with EO company members accompanied by a Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra Ensemble conducted by Predrag Gosta. We were delighted to round out the season with a particularly positive review from Planet Hugill: “Comedy and physical theatre along with veins of seriousness and anger in a chamber production that really drew you into Mozart and Da Ponte's world”.

Following this successful production, we were also delighted to receive two 2024 OFFIES Nominations , including Anne-Luise Wagner and Elinor Rolfe Johnson, who were both nominated for ‘Best Performance’ in our 2024 production of ‘Le Nozze di Figaro’ for the Grimeborn Festival at the Arcola theatre in London.

Overall, we were pleased to see positive outcomes from the pivot in our strategy introducing popular 18th century opera (in this case, Mozart) to expand our reach and grow audiences. We saw total ticket sales of £17,641 during the 2023-24 season, representing a YoY increase of 78% and breaking records with 683 sales for the 2024 Grimeborn festival alone, the best performance by far in terms of sales (the next most popular was Poppea which sold 549 tickets at The Arcola in 2022). In general, we saw healthy attendance levels across all EO performances in London.

While revenue did well, we received limited reviews throughout the season, despite positive audience feedback. It was suggested by the Board that going forwards we push for earlier appearances in the Grimeborn festival (e.g. opening night), as well as more proactive outreach to reviewers, including offers of free tickets.

We also made positive progress with building out our customer database by finally securing access to the Cockpit and Arcola mailing lists, a significant milestone in strengthening the relationship with the venues that resulted in the addition of 317 new contacts this season (representing a YoY increase of 77%), significantly enhancing our ability to successfully grow

our audience in London. For example, 80% of the emails and audience were new for ‘Semele’ as a result of this expanded access.

Public benefit

The Trustees consider that our activities during the period of:

Putting on 9 opera performances of Mozart’s ‘Le Nozze di Figaro’
Running 3 Academies of Mozart’s ‘Le Nozze di Figaro’, Handel’s ‘Semele’ and Cavalli’s ‘La Calisto’ for young early career professional singers across London and East Sussex
Performing at 2 festivals including Grimeborn and HPO Open Doors Festival 2024

Additionally, we have been able to pay our singers for every performance. In an environment that is impacted by the current economic privations, we have achieved more than many more established businesses in music and entertainment. For this our thanks are due to a committed and talented group of performers, who have given us great confidence in the future of Ensemble OrQuesta.

Fundraising and fundraising practices

Our last report acknowledged that Ensemble OrQuesta tended to be reliant on grants for publication of rarely performed works. Recognising Ensemble OrQuesta’s need to diversify our sources of funding, we have been circumspect in preparing thorough applications to send to a range of other trusts and foundations. We target organisations supporting young professionals and a schedule of targeted grants was built for 2023-24. We generally look to secure between £2-5k per project-based grant, however our preference is always to secure core funding which would allow us more flexibility. These are of course more challenging to secure, with many applications rejected from organisations with less than £50k turnover. To date, we see an approximate 30% rejection rate.

The Board is under the impression that many of these foundations, particularly the Arts Council, prefer larger community-based projects with less ‘obscure’ music (e.g. French baroque) and larger sponsorship, hence the pivot in our strategy in terms of expanding our repertoire to include more popular 18th century operas e.g. Mozart.

Core Funding

We had success securing £5,000 from Cavalli Foundation and The Big Give to support "core costs";

‘Le Nozze di Figaro’ at The Cockpit (Feb 2024)

Out of the 4 applications made to support the full production costs of ‘Le Nozze di Figaro’ at The Cockpit, one was successful. We received £2,000 from Garrick Charitable Trust. We were unable to secure funding from Backstage Trust and The Maria Bjornson Memorial Fund. These trusts were selected as they also supported Hampstead Garden Opera.

‘Le Nozze di Figaro’ at The Arcola (Grimeborn)

A round of grant applications was sent for the production of ‘Le Nozze di Figaro’ at Grimeborn (The Arcola Theatre), including applications to the Golsoncott Foundation, however none were successful despite the production delivering on cultural value with outreach, accessibility and diversity elements required.

Individual donations

We receive regular individual donations of £1,558 through CAF online, however this presents us with the opportunity to develop a more robust approach to encouraging individual regular donations.

In particular, we should consider how we leverage our mailing list to drive more donations. Big Give raised £1,000 from individual donors, which shows that people are willing to give. Gift Aid also makes a significant difference.

We are diligent in our efforts to seek to increase donations from individuals, soliciting regular support from our audiences, supporters of early music and other connections of the Board. Ensemble OrQuesta continues to review its data management procedures and privacy policy to ensure compliance with the GDPR regulations, as both its general mailing list and membership increase. Ensemble OrQuesta does not carry out, or commission, telephone fundraising campaigns.

Financial review

This year reflects a profit for the year of £242, and our reserves therefore remained positive at the year end and totalled £3,279.

While we benefited from grants from new sources, our total income from Grants reduced year on year, with a total income for the year decreasing from £64,924 to £58,754.

Our first production of the year, at The Cockpit Theatre was performed at a net loss of £791, with support from Garrick Trust. Our production at The Arcola was performed at a net loss of £2,345.

Our expenditure is almost entirely directly related to our performances; the Charity currently has no administration or fund-raising costs.

Deposits from EO Opera Academy participants are treated as income when the performances take place.

The Trustees consider the financial position of the Charity to be satisfactory for an early-stage charity, with an increased focus on a robust fundraising strategy.

Reserves

Until a pattern of income and expenditure has been established, it is not practicable for the Charity to adopt a reserve policy. Our immediate goal is to diversify our sources of income. While we remain at this stage, the Trustees will remain vigilant in minimising overheads and

ensuring that no commitments are made to future performances unless we clearly have the funds to meet our obligations.

Risk review

The Trustees have identified financial risk and late cancellation of performances as the biggest risks facing the Charity. To mitigate these risks, the Trustees are active in seeking new sources of grant, as well as monitoring the effectiveness of decisions taken in the year to achieve income diversification. They will also ensure that overheads are kept to a minimum and that performance commitments do not incur obligations in the event of cancellation.

TRUSTEES’ RESPONSIBILITIES

Trustees are required to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of Ensemble OrQuesta and of its income and expenditure for that period. In preparing those financial statements, Trustees are required to:

select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
state whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that Ensemble OrQuesta will continue to operate.

Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of Ensemble OrQuesta and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011.

The Trustees are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the organisation and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

This report has been prepared in accordance with the provisions of Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.

By order of the Trustees

Sabrina Rodriguez (Chairman)

Caryl Hosein (Financial Officer)

12 May 2025

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT ON THE ACCOUNTS

I report to the Trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31st October 2024.

As the charity’s trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).

I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145 (5) (b) of the Act.

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that, in any material respect:

the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; or
the accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or
the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair’ view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Carl W Read FCCA ACA

12 May 2025

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST OCTOBER 2024

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST OCTOBER 2024

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST OCTOBER 2024	FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST OCTOBER 2024	FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST OCTOBER 2024	FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST OCTOBER 2024	FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST OCTOBER 2024	FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST OCTOBER 2024
	Note	Unrestricted Funds £	Restricted Funds £	Total October 2024 £	Total October 2023 £
Income from
Grants and donations	2	10,362	-	10,362	20,565
Charitable activities	3	48,392	-	48,392	44,359
Total income		58,754	-	58,754	64,924

Expenditure on
Charitable Activities	4	58,513	-	58,513	66,819
Total Expenditure		58,513	-	58,513	66,819

Net Income/(Expenditure) and Net Movement in Funds		241	-	241	(1,895)
Total Funds Brought Forward		3,038	-	3,038	4,933
Total Funds Carried Forward		3,279	-	3,279	3,038
All the activities above are continuing operations

All the activities above are continuing operations

BALANCE SHEET

AS AT 31ST OCTOBER 2024

BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31ST OCTOBER 2024	BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31ST OCTOBER 2024	BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31ST OCTOBER 2024	BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31ST OCTOBER 2024
	Note	Total October 2024 £	Total October 2023 £
CURRENT ASSETS
Debtors	5	849	120
Cash at Bank		6,923	4,918
		7,772	5,038

Creditors	6	(4,493)	(2,000)
NET CURRENT ASSETS and TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES		3,279	3,038

FUNDS	7
Restricted Funds		-	-
General Fund		3,279	3,038
		3,279	3,038

For the year ended 31st October 2024 the company was entitled to exemption under Section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.
The members have not required the company to obtain an audit in accordance with Section 476 of the Companies Act 2006.
The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 with respect to accounting records and the preparation of the accounts.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies’ regime.

These accounts were approved by the Board of Trustees on 20th July 2025 and signed on its behalf by:

Sabrina Rodriguez (Chairman)

20th July 2025

NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST OCTOBER 2024

1) ACCOUNTING POLICIES

a) Basis of Preparation and Assessment of going concern

The accounts have been prepared under the historical cost convention. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standards applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (update effective 2019) and the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.

The Charity constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102.

The Charity is in its infancy and has yet to establish a predictable pattern of fund-raising. The Charity has negligible outgoings and the Trustees will only commit to future performances if adequate funding commitments have been secured. The Trustees consider that there are no material uncertainties about the Charity’s ability to continue as a going concern, as future funding is expected to exceed expenditure.

The functional and presentational currency is £ sterling.

b) Funds

General funds represent the funds of the Charity that are not subject to any restrictions regarding their use and are available for application to the general purposes of the Charity. Funds designated for a particular purpose by the Charity are unrestricted. Restricted Funds are funds which are used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by donors, or which have been raised by the Charity for a particular purpose.

c) Income

All income is recognised once the charity has entitlement to the income, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount of income receivable can be measured reliably.

d) Expenditure

Liabilities are recognised as expenditure as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to that expenditure, it is probable that settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis. All expenses, including support and governance costs, are allocated or apportioned to the applicable expenditure headings.

2) GRANTS & DONATIONS

	Unrestricted £	Restricted £	October 2024 £	October 2023 £
Grants:
Cavalli Foundation	-	4,000	4,000	-
Garrick Charitable	2,000	-	2,000	-
The Big Trust	1,000	-	1,000	-
Total grants	3,000	4,000	7,000	13,500
Donations	3,362	-	3,362	7,065
	6,362	4,000	10,362	20,565
Donations include gift aid claimed where applicable

3) CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES

	Unrestricted £	Restricted £	October 2024 £	October 2023 £
Performance income	48,392	-	48,392	44,359
	48,392	-	48,392	44,359

4) CHARITABLE EXPENDITURE

	Activities Undertaken Directly £	Support Costs £	October 2024 £	October 2023 £
Performance costs	58,513	-	58,513	66,819
	58,513	-	58,513	66,819

Key Management Personnel comprise the Artistc Director, Managing Director, Financial Officer and the Trustees. Salaries for the Artistic Director and Managing Director are paid monthly to cover administration and organising for the charity, but should funds not be available these payments are not to be made, in agreement with the Board. The Musical

Director was paid £2,700 during the year, and the Manager Director was paid £1,800 during the year, giving the total of £4,500 classified as ‘salary’ in the accounts. The total ‘staff’ costs to cover members of the Ensemble OrQuesta and Ensemble OrQuesta Academy came to £2,400. The Trustees receive no remuneration.

5) DEBTORS

	October 2024 £	October 2023 £
Prepayments	849	120
	849	120

6) CREDITORS

	October 2024 £	October 2023 £
Deferred income	4,493	2,000
	4,493	2,000

7) RESTRICTED AND UNRESTRICTED FUNDS

Net assets are allocated between Funds as follows:

Net assets are allocated between Funds as follows:	Net assets are allocated between Funds as follows:	Net assets are allocated between Funds as follows:	Net assets are allocated between Funds as follows:
	Restricted £	Unrestricted £	Total £
Fixed Assets	-	-	-
Net Current Assets	-	3,279	3,279
	-	3,279	3,279

8) RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

Small, regular individual donations were made by trustees Keith Wallace (resigned from the Board on 31st December 2022), Sabrina Rodriguez and Carolyn May through CAF online. No Grants were provided by related parties in this financial year.