"If the Vocal Futures model does not provide a visionary example of how to develop the young audiences of the future, nothing will.” - Stephen Fry 

 

 

Vocal Futures is holding a Celebratory Colloquium on Thursday 28th February 2019 at Queens' College, Cambridge.

The day will begin at 11am (registration over tea and coffee from 10am) with a key-note talk from Professor John Sloboda, OBE, FBA, Research Professor, Guildhall School of Music & Drama, who was recently awarded an OBE for his services to Music and Psychology. John will explore the research undertaken by Vocal Futures over many years into the development of younger audiences for classical music, and his work more generally.

Lunch and opportunities for further discussion will then be provided in the beautiful surroundings of the Queens' College President's Lodge.

The event will close with a panel discussion and question-and-answer session on the issue of engaging younger audiences and sustaining meaningful growth in younger demographics. Panellists will include David Butcher (Chief Executive, Britten Sinfonia), Angela Dixon (Chief Executive, Saffron Hall), William Norris (Managing Director, Southbank Sinfonia) and Professor John Sloboda, with the closing remarks ending around 3.30pm. Tea and coffee will be available in the President's Lodge until 4.30pm for those who wish to talk further.

This event is both a celebration of the work of Vocal Futures over the last eight years, and an invaluable opportunity for networking with audience development professionals from top arts organisations across the UK.

We hope that you will want to join us! If you'd like to attend, please simply email colloquium@vocalfutures.org and you'll be sent the registration form in due course.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch by emailing colloquium@vocalfutures.org, should you have any questions about the event or your participation.

 

Vocal Futures Celebratory Colloquium: Building A Young Audience for Live Classical Music

 

Vocal Futures will be holding a Colloquium on Thursday 28th February 2019 at Queens' College, Cambridge. 

 

Professor John Sloboda awarded OBE

We are delighted to hear that our Research Lead, Professor John Sloboda, has been awarded an OBE in the 2018 New Year's Honours List for services to psychology and music. Read more here

The Choice

Thank you to everyone who came to support us in our production of The Choice. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9Y32ER87NU

Click here to find out more!

Photos by Nick Rutter

            

Vocal Futures: Classical Music for the Future

 

News

Mary Bevan

Congratulations to soprano Mary Bevan (who played Gabriel in our Creation performance) who has been nominated for an RPS award!

Ben Glassberg

Vocal Futures' Assistant Conductor and Orchestral Manager, Ben Glassberg, has just been awarded a scholarship to study for a Masters Degree in Conducting at the Royal Academy of Music, from September 2015. Ben assisted Suzi on our Haydn Creation project and is very much looking forward to continuing his work with Vocal Futures, alongside his conducting studies with Sian Edwards.

Matthew Long

Tenor, Matthew Long, who sang the role of Uriel in Vocal Futures 2013 production of Haydn's Creation, has released his debut solo album. With accompaniment by renowned accompanist Malcolm Martineau, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and guitarist Rufus Miller, Till the Stars Fall is a collection of English song and British and Irish Folk repertoire in celebration of some of our finest music.

Vocal Futures shortlisted for Best Classical Music Education Initiative

We are delighted to have been shortlisted for the Best Classical Music Education Initiative award at the Music Teacher Awards for Excellence, 2014. Although we did not win the award, we would like to thank everybody who voted and supported us.

http://www.classicfm.com/concerts-events/vote-best-classical-music-education-initiative/

"The Best Classical Music Education Initiative will honour an education project which has used classical music in an innovative way, shown musical excellence and had a positive impact on a significant number of participants.

The six nominees for the Best Classical Music Education Initiative were chosen by a selection panel chaired by Thomas Lydon, editor of Music Teacher magazine. The panel judged potential nominees against the following criteria: musical excellence, impact, innovation.

Any classical music education initiative based in the UK was eligible for this award, but the panel felt strongly that the following six initiatives scored highest against the agreed criteria."

Haydn's Creation

 

Will, one of our Young Ambassadors talks about what the work of Vocal Futures means to him:

"As music students our passion for classical music is incredibly close to our hearts, but it is not a passion that is overly easy to share with our peers. It is certainly no secret that interest in classical music, specifically within my demographic, is at a significant low point right now; a point I know from experience as I myself was completely alone in my love for classical music amongst my friends during school, and it was only once I had arrived at University that I met like-minded people.

I remember when I first met Suzi she used a term that has stuck with me, one I find myself constantly repeating and relating to, and indeed finding relevance to many situations I find myself in. Suzi spoke of our "cultural diet", a term I initially found interesting as I realised we see in the media all too often concerns for our nutritional diet but it seems our cultural diet is been overlooked somewhat. Unlike the young people of yesteryear we cannot simply 'stumble' upon classical music. We cannot flick through television channels or magazines and accidentally come across classical music, therefore rending it a case of unless we ourselves set out to discover it the only hope we stand is if our parents bring us up with classical music firmly within our "cultural diet".

It is because of this that I, and I speak on behalf of all my fellow students involved, believe Vocal Futures is such a fantastic project. It is providing a gateway for new audiences, and is potentially the way to bridge this gap once and for all. Moreover, it seems even more fitting that Haydn's 'The Creation' be chosen as the piece of focus as this project really could be the creation of something very special, and the future of classical concert-goers and the concerts themselves."

– Will, 20

Download the press release for Creation here - Read more on Haydn's Creation