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ROUND ELEVEN GRANT APPLICATIONS
Bloomsbury Players
ENSEMBLE INFO
Ensemble Contact:
Sijie Chen
Email:
Ensemble Connect URL
Year of formation:
2022
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
We are planning our most ambitious project to date - 2 weeks touring a programme centred around the Schubert Octet, with concerts in rural areas as well as towns/cities, education and community workshops and a research aspect involving the historical instruments collection at St. Cecilia’s in Edinburgh. We want to bring our concerts to new audiences across the UK who may have less access to classical music at the highest level, and to introduce those who are less familiar with historical performance to a new lens for discovering the music of the past with fresh eyes. The programme brings the music into the present, with premieres of specially commissioned arrangements of Schubert’s songs that directly inspired his chamber music compositions. Two of these works, the much-loved string quartets ‘Rosamunde’ and ‘Death and the Maiden’ were written astonishingly within weeks of the octet. We want to present these works together to shine a new light on the Octet and to offer a new perspective on Schubert’s chamber music oevre.
Our locations include
• Lake District (2-4 May)
• Edinburgh St Vincent’s (5)
• Tighnabruich (6-7 May)
• Cambridge St Clement’s (13 May)
• Broughton Castle (15 May)
• Leighton House, London (16 May)
• Doddington Hall, Lincolnshire (17 May)
• Royal College of Music, London (18 May)
While we expect to be able to draw from a generous pool of classical music lovers who are already familiar with performance on period instruments in London, Cambridge and Edinburgh, we are aiming to attract an audience of people who are less familiar with this kind of performance in Lincolnshire, in the Lake District, at Brougton Castle, and in Tighnabruich. In Tighnabruich we are excited to perform to the local community. The following day we will be presenting a workshop to the local school. Plans are under way to present a performance and workshop with the students at the Royal College of Music. We are always searching for ways to create a different concert experience by using venues less traditional venues.
There are plans to record the London performance if we have the funds.
SUPPORTING INFORMATION
We have previously recieved a grant from Continuo
PROJECT COSTS
Number of performers:
Instrumentalists:
Vocalists:
Other:
8
0
0
Project Income (£):
Ticketing/Fees:
Public Funding:
Other trusts/foundations - confirmed
Other trusts/foundations - pending
Other
Income - Total sources
21000
21000
Project Expenses (£):
Artists' fees
Artists' travel/accommodation
Venue - Rehearsal/Concert:
Recording/Filming:
Marketing/Publicity:
Management/Contingency:
19200
3256.8
1689
1000
400
2000
Total Project Costs:
27546
Amount (£) of Grant Requested:
6546
Detailed Budget (Download):
IMPACT OF GRANT
The grant would allow us to put on a larger-scale piece of chamber music (the Schubert Octet). Touring with eight players comes with significant costs, which are often beyond the means of promoters and local chamber music societies and also cannot fully be covered by ticket income through in self-promoted concerts. The grant would also allow us to take the ensemble outside our existing networks and to establish new contacts, which can form the foundation for future tours.
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