Music Director Marios Papadopoulos MBE
Oxford
Philharmonic
Orchestra
Orchestra in Residence at the University of Oxford
Case for Support
Our Vision We want to be recognised as one of the leading orchestras in Europe. Our position as the resident orchestra of the University of Oxford gives the Oxford Philharmonic a unique dimension of academic and community breadth unlike any other UK orchestra.
Our Value Uncompromising quality, players of the highest calibre, world-class soloists, conductors and dynamic teachers.
Target To raise ÂŁ12 million to support and develop the Orchestra to sustain it through the end of its first quarter century.
Mission To serve Oxfordshire and the Thames Valley region by offering world-class performances and to bring the engagements of classical music to the entire community.
Celebrating 20 Years of Excellence The Campaign for the Oxford Philharmonic is intended to be a six-year comprehensive fundraising programme to meet all the financial needs of the OPO to complete its first quarter century. It is designed to effect a permanent transformation in the way the Orchestra sustains itself at the highest level of excellence as it pursues its artistic and educational priorities.
The Celebration Honorary President’s Message Over the past two decades, I have watched the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra become a much-admired regional orchestra associated with some of the finest musicians in the world. Based in Oxford, the Orchestra serves the Thames Valley and beyond. Its status as Orchestra in Residence at the University of Oxford gives it a significant educational dimension and its reach as a provider of high-quality music education in the wider community is significant. OPO concerts attract capacity audiences, 30% of whom are students – the highest percentage of students of any UK orchestra audience. The Orchestra is firmly embedded into the fabric of Oxford and the Oxfordshire community. The current climate presents enormous challenges for all orchestras. The OPO seeks to offer the highest standard of artistic excellence while remaining affordable and accessible to our audiences from all parts of our community. Earned income from box-office receipts amounts to only a small percentage of our income – a sell-out concert at the Sheldonian Theatre loses on average £30,000 in direct costs. All of the Philharmonic’s programmes, including our educational programmes and community work, recordings and other activities described below are funded by generous sponsors and donors. The ambition to become internationally recognised through touring and recording is the next big step to be taken on our artistic journey. The Orchestra receives no regular funding from the Arts Council or any other statutory body and relies entirely on its own fundraising efforts to maintain its activities. OPO is a registered UK charity and a US non-profit. To provide a sustainable financial base for the next phase of the journey, the Orchestra needs to raise £11.7 million between now and 2023, our 25th anniversary. We seek supporters who wish to share in the musical world of a great orchestra in residence at a great university. I want to help the Orchestra on its journey to the next level and I hope you will want to join me. Music can have a powerful impact on people’s lives. In the words of Heinrich Heine, “When words leave off, music begins”. By making a gift to the OPO campaign, you will combine your passion for music with support for a great orchestra. Your investment will help shape the Orchestra’s future. The Rt Hon Lord Patten CH Honorary President , Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra
Oxford
Philharmonic
Orchestra
The Oxford Philharmonic has been at the forefront of Oxford music since its founding by Marios Papadopoulos in 1998. As the professional symphony orchestra for the city and the Orchestra in Residence at the University of Oxford since 2002, we provide a comprehensive season of concerts in Oxford and regularly perform in other parts of the UK and abroad. We have close links with many aspects of Oxford’s musical and cultural life. Education and community outreach is central to the Orchestra’s mission. Today, the Orchestra enjoys an enviable reputation as an orchestra of uncompromising standards and an important stop for most of the world’s leading classical artists. Even though the Orchestra receives no regular Arts Council subsidy, the Orchestra’s ongoing operations are sustained primarily through private philanthropy. As we celebrate our first 20 years in 2018 and move into our third decade, it is a good moment to review our accomplishments and restate our ambitions for the future. The theme of our second decade was artistic development, widely seen as a huge success with investment in our musicians, in community activities, in our partnership with the University and in bringing the world’s greatest artists to Oxford. Our third decade needs to be about our international presence through touring and innovative use of the many new channels of digital and social media that can transform the way we reach new audiences. Continued investment to take artistic standards to new heights will remain at the heart of our ambition.
The Future in Four Movements I. Performance • 6 year funding requirement: £10 million The Oxford Philharmonic promotes a series of concerts each year in Oxford. The majority take place in our Oxford home, Sir Christopher Wren’s Sheldonian Theatre and attracts capacity audiences. In addition, there are also concerts in University colleges, the Holywell Music Room and Oxford’s elegant Town Hall. The versatility of its members allows the Philharmonic Orchestra to appear as a symphony orchestra, a chamber orchestra and a Baroque ensemble in Oxford, London and in other cities around the UK. The soloists of the Oxford Philharmonic, an ensemble of principal players, undertake a number of chamber music concerts in a dedicated series in Oxford and in private homes in Oxfordshire and London. A concert pianist in his own right, Music Director Marios Papadopoulos often combines the role of conductor and pianist directing piano concertos from the keyboard. The finest artists of today perform with the Orchestra. These include Lang Lang, Maxim Vengerov, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Renée Fleming, Martha Argerich, Sir András Schiff, Valery Gergiev, Janine Jansen, Nicola Benedetti and Nigel Kennedy. Overseas, the Philharmonic has already appeared in many European countries including Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece and Switzerland and are planning a major tour to the USA in 2019/20, along with year-long celebrations of da Vinci in 2019 and Beethoven in 2020.
Academy Programme II. The Oxford Philharmonic Academy The Oxford Philharmonic is unique among UK symphony orchestras in that it has a university residency, which provides it with a depth and breadth of artistic engagement unlike any other UK orchestra. The Academy programme offers students tuition by principals of the Orchestra and visiting artists. It incorporates all of the Orchestra’s educational programmes from post graduate to preschool activities.
University Residency As part of our University of Oxford residency and in association with the University’s Faculty of Music, we offer a range of workshops and master-classes led by professionals from the orchestra and visiting artists for the benefit of the student community. The Orchestral Apprenticeship scheme gives students the opportunity to receive professional training and play in some of the Orchestra’s concerts under supervision. We also offer a platform to student and faculty composers. In 2015 a significant subsidised student ticket scheme was introduced which has proven to be very popular.
Piano Festival and Summer Academy • 6 year funding requirement: £1.32 million With links to the Lang Lang Foundation, the annual Piano Festival has become a mecca for talented young pianists from around the world to come to Oxford to study with the world’s most renowned artists and professors. An intensive programme of masterclasses during the day is complemented by a series of evening concerts in some of the most beautiful venues in Oxford. The application process is highly competitive and only thirteen students are accepted from over 100 applications. Artists performing and teaching at the 2018 Piano Festival include Alfred Brendel, Sir András Schiff, Menahem Pressler and Richard Goode. Classes are open to both daily and resident observers who find this an invaluable learning experience and gain real insight into the art of piano playing.
"World class in every way. The masterclasses were so informative on so many aspects of technique and interpretation…The evening concerts were superb." Piano festival observer
Academy Programme The Oxfordshire and Thames Valley Community The Orchestra offers the opportunity for all sections of the community to experience classical music. We run an innovative programme of work to enable people from diverse backgrounds to appreciate music and wherever possible participate in music making.
Partnership with the Oxfordshire County Music Service and other school programmes Music education in schools has declined precipitously over recent decades and the Philharmonic has stepped in to fill some of the need. Initiatives include the annual Concerto Competition where secondary school musicians compete for prestigious prizes including the opportunity to perform a concerto with the Oxford Philharmonic. We work with special needs schools as well as primary schools throughout the region. The Dragon School regularly hosts primary schools students from across Oxfordshire to attend an open day of learning and music making. In conjunction with the Oxford City Council, the Philharmonic hosts three family concerts a year in the Oxford Town Hall. These ‘FUNomusica’ concerts are created specifically with younger audiences in mind to get children involved in music at a young age.
III. Hospitals • 6 year funding requirement: £330,000 Hospitals are a key area where we are very active. We work with three of the Oxford University Trust hospitals (John Radcliffe, Churchill and the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre) where we have conducted a series of highly regarded workshops for physically handicapped outpatients. Working with the Oxfordshire Mental Healthcare NHS Trust, we developed specialist work at the Park and Highfield Hospitals for disturbed patients with a grant from Youth Music.
“As always there were magical moments … an improvised piece conducted by a man using only his eyes and eyebrows springs to mind.” Tom Cox, Arts Co-ordinator Oxford Centre for Enablement
IV. International and Digital Strategy • 6 year funding requirement: £350,000 The Oxford Philharmonic has established its own recording label. The catalogue of releases includes a recording of Haydn’s Creation with New College Choir, conducted by Edward Higginbottom. Recordings on other labels include:
• Handel/Mendelssohn’s Acis and Galatea with Christ Church Cathedral Choir, conducted by Stephen Darlington • Brahms Violin Concerto with Maxim Vengerov • Sibelius Violin Concerto with Maxim Vengerov • Christmas Selection entitled O Holy Night with Merton College Choir • Works by Nimrod Borenstein conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy • Shostakovich Cello Concerto with soloist the Orchestra’s principal Mats Lidström conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy The Oxford Philharmonic also features on Nigel Kennedy’s latest recording, “My World”. The OPO’s social media following has doubled in two years. The Orchestra has a presence on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Visitors to the website will soon be able to download the Orchestra’s performances. Of significant importance to the Orchestra in the next few years is increasing its presence in the US and European markets. Having launched the American Friends of the OPO the Orchestra has already built a strong core support base in the States from which to build a regular presence supported by Oxford’s extensive network of North American friends.
“As a long serving trustee I have watched the Orchestra develop into one of the finest orchestras in Europe, and am keen to see it perform on both sides of the Atlantic.� James B. Sherwood, Trustee and Chairman of the US Advisory Council
“***** ‘The orchestral playing and engineering is of bracing impact and captivating allure.” BBC Music Magazine’s ‘Concerto Choice of the Month’, December 2017
“As an Oxford alumnus I am proud to support this fine orchestra and much look forward to their performances in America.” Lief Rosenblatt, supporter
Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra Royal Patron HRH Princess Alexandra Life Presidents Geoffrey de Jager Harry Leventis Menahem Pressler Mary Weston Honorary President The Rt Hon Lord Patten CH Vice President Sir Victor Blank Patron Vladimir Ashkenazy Piano Festival Patron Alfred Brendel KBE Piano Festival President Sir András Schiff Patron for New Music Marina, Lady Marks Music Director Marios Papadopoulos MBE Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra Trust Registered Charity no. 1084256 Peter Earl (Chairman) Geoffrey de Jager (Deputy Chairman) Elena Ambrosiadou Saphieh Ashtiany
Sir Jonathan Bate Raymond Blanc OBE Desmond Cecil CMG Prof Michael Earl David Haenlein Aviad Meitar Marios Papadopoulos MBE James Sherwood George Tsavliris Georg von Opel Advisory Council Saphieh Ashtiany (Chair) Prof Roger Ainsworth Nicola Blackwood Baroness Deech Prof Raymond Dwek CBE Prof Michael Earl Joanna Foster CBE Peggotty Graham Jeff Hewitt Robert Jackson Lady Kenny Lord Krebs Lady North Dr Jill Pellew Sir Jonathan Phillips Cllr Bob Price Sir Ivor Roberts Prof Peter Tufano Suzy Webster
Finance and General Purposes Committee Prof Michael Earl (Chairman) David Haenlein Jeff Hewitt Anthony Loehnis Richard Smethurst Honorary Members Lord Butler of Brockwell Sir Jeremy Greenstock Lady Heseltine John Leighfield CBE Margarita Louis-Dreyfus Sir Michael Parkinson CBE Dr Michael Peagram Anthony Smith CBE Prof Reinhard Strohm Francesca Schwarzenbach Bruno Wang Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra Productions Ltd Company no. 3592323 VAT no. 208 4077 20 Directors Peter Earl David Haenlein Anthi Papadopoulos Marios Papadopoulos MBE
Administration Concerts Music Director Marios Papadopoulos MBE Executive Assistant to the Music Director Helen Harris Planning Officer Helen Ecclestone Logistics Officer Beau Marshall Stage Manager Max Howard Executive Director American Friends of the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra April Gow
Media Press and PR Nicky Thomas Media Communications Consultant Simon Wall Education/Community Director David Haenlein University Residency Coordinator Beau Marshall Piano Festival Coordinator Beau Marshall
Development Development Director Kathy Seligman Development and Research Officer Marianna Raatikainen
Production Design/ Office Supervisor Larisa Afrić Librarian Helen Harris
Marketing/Events Director Anthi Papadopoulos Ticketing and Marketing Officer Stella Papadopoulos
Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra is a full member of the Association of British Orchestras
Design by Larisa Afrić. Photography credits: Chris Gloag