bath festival orchestra
Chippenham
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.
