Bath Festival Orchestra

The Bath Festival Orchestra is the future of classical music. We represent a new model for orchestras, placing the education and training of future audiences and musicians at the forefront of everything we do. Led by our values, we are committed to ensuring a sustainable future for classical music, and to creating impactful experiences that go beyond genre and traditional boundaries to encourage greater access to art. Our aim is to take classical music to diverse audiences in overlooked communities, by turn inviting them into some of the world’s finest concert halls to contribute, listen, see, feel and enjoy the exquisite music that has been and will be written for the orchestra. We are committed to innovation in the area of enhanced live performance, harnessing the creative possibilities of augmented reality, virtual reality and hologram technology. We will experiment with and explore new scientific capabilities to advance musical dialogue in the streaming and broadcast arenas. Founded in 1959 by Yehudi Menuhin, the Bath Festival Orchestra has long been established as the beating heart and resident ensemble of The Bath Festival. Our reach is now international, having used the power of digital media and technologies to establish ambitious collaborative projects for worldwide audiences. Collaboration, access to music at every level, and cross-genre collaboration, are values of our Founder and remain interwoven into the orchestra’s identity and work. We relaunched during the Covid-19 pandemic, in a move indicative of our devotion to offering opportunities for all, and amplifying engagement in the arts. We are flinging open the doors to classical music, providing open access at every level. We are led by a dedication to seeing our audiences and musicians reflect the society we live in – to truly diversify the socio‐demographics of our industry. Our first engagement, following our relaunch, was an education project to give young people access to the best music training in schools. We are equally at home here as we are when connecting with audiences at live events, from those held at the recently refurbished Bath Abbey to those at the renowned Badminton House. We are looking forward to sharing our plans for 2021-22 in the coming months.