Mission Statement

Across the globe, brilliant young musicians of rare talent and exceptional promise come to London, the musical capital of the world, to train at our leading conservatoires. Some succeed, but in a fast-moving and fast-changing city, even the potential of young artists of the highest international calibre can become lost. To make the next step and enter London's world-leading music industry, support and experience are often necessary - which the Orpheus Foundation is committed to provide.

The Orpheus Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation working to provide professional opportunities for some of the finest young musicians in London. By enabling young artists to showcase their achievements in a central London concert platform and by providing a mechanism for intercollegiate collaboration while working in our orchestra, the Orpheus Sinfonia, we deliver a broad range of opportunities to soloists, conductors, ensembles and orchestral players to further their professional development.

In the days of the composers we love, such as J. S. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin, young musicians sought the patronage of a vast number of social leaders who provided them with the means and opportunity to develop their art. Our musical legacy was formed by hundreds of musicians across the courts of Europe, who have the filled the pages of history. Today, the Orpheus Foundation establishes a link between patrons of the 21st Century – the corporate sector, supportive individuals and trusts around the world – and immensely gifted young people, creating a vital stepping-stone through which the talents that brought them into the London conservatoires have the chance to develop and flourish.

Dame Judi Dench CH DBE
Patron - Orpheus Foundation

Preparations for Orpheus Foundation's spring 2012 concerts are now complete, and we are all looking forward immensely to a stunning showcase of music from our talented young musicians! The concerts and recitals would not be possible without your continuing support, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every sponsor, supporter, Friend and volunteer; your generosity is vital for Orpheus to continue its mission of supporting the finest musicians of tomorrow.

Our Friends and Benefactors membership scheme, numbering over 200, is the Orpheus Foundation's bedrock of support, and I am very pleased that the Friends of Orpheus include 12 Chair Benefactors. We are also especially grateful to Bryan Pickup and all at SJ Berwin for their sponsorship of the season's opening 'Rising Stars' concert on 1 February, and to Bryan Laxton and all at Cushman & Wakefield for sponsoring our concert 'A Dance to the Music of Time' on 22 March.

The Orpheus Lunchtime Recital Programme continues to go from strength to strength, and this season's recitals, many of which feature principal players from the Orpheus Sinfonia, would of course not be possible without funding from the Richard Carne Trust, to which we offer our heartfelt thanks.

In August and September 2011, 22 members of the Orpheus Sinfonia took part in the orchestra's inaugural international tour, travelling to Austria to perform concerts in Graz and Kumberg. I am delighted to report that the tour was a resounding success, and would like to thank all those who supported and sponsored the tour, and particularly the principal sponsors Nicholas and Debbie Barton; Christine Seelhorst, who organised the provision of accommodation for the orchestra from the residents of Kumberg; and Achim Holub, whose electric conducting of Mozart's 'Jupiter' symphony in the final tour performance at Kumberg was greeted with a standing ovation.

It only remains for me to wish all our musicians, and indeed everyone involved with Orpheus, the very best of luck for this eclectic and exciting spring season!

Dame Judi Dench, CH DBE
Patron, Orpheus Foundation

Orpheus Foundation: Spring Season 2012

The spring 2012 season is Orpheus' nineteenth series of concerts and continues our mission of developing and supporting the careers of the finest musicians of tomorrow, with particular emphasis on showcasing the Orpheus Sinfonia's outstanding young players with some of the most celebrated orchestral music. The season, which has been created by Orpheus' orchestral manager Katie Manasse, opens on Wednesday 1 February with 'Rising Stars', generously sponsored by SJ Berwin. At this concert the orchestra will perform three stunning pieces, written when their composers were the rising stars of their day and now acknowledged as masterpieces of Romantic orchestral repertoire.

We would like to welcome Leonard Schreiber, acclaimed last season for his performances with the Orpheus Sinfonia, and renowned young pianist Veronika Shoot, for our opening lunchtime recital on 8 February; their programme will range from the seventeenth century to Schnittke's 1978 interpretation of 'Silent Night'. In the Pythagoras Quartet's exciting TangoFugue recital on 22 February, we will encounter Mozart's string interpretation of fugues from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, Mendelssohn's own treatment of fugue and Clifton Harrison's arrangements of Piazzolla's jazz- and baroque-influenced nuevo tango.

The Glendower Duo will launch the second half of the season's recitals on 29 February. Clarinetist Hannah Morgan and pianist Thomas Besnard, who has previously performed with Orpheus at concerts and recitals, will take us on a journey through some jewels of twentieth century French repertoire. The series of lunchtime recitals is concluded in style on 7 March with the Busch Ensemble's performance of piano quartets by Mozart and Fauré. 

Our final concert of the season, A Dance to the Music of Time, is generously sponsored by Cushman & Wakefield. On Thursday 22 March the Orpheus Sinfonia, conducted by Toby Purser, will explore the influence of different musical epochs throughout history. The orchestra will play Prokofiev's 'Classical' Symphony, Britten's revision of Purcell's Chacony and Ravel's elegiac Le Tombeau de Couperin, before Beethoven's timeless Seventh Symphony, termed by Wagner 'the apotheosis of the dance', concludes this exciting and dynamic season.