News

2016

January

Happy New Year! We hope that you all had a lovely Christmas and that the next year will be a good one for everyone.

The first Music at The Limes concert of 2016 on Sunday, 17th January at 4pm features Fatima Lahham, who specialises in playing Recorder and Baroque Flute. Fatima will play a wide ranging repertoire of recorder music spanning the 13th - 21st Centuries. Fatima was awarded a grant in 2015 by the Exuberant Trust to help fund her Masters Degree at the Royal College of Music, London and we are delighted that she is performing in aid of the Trust at our opening concert of the season.

There has been some great news from Oxford-based chamber choir JUBILATE! As BBC Ten Pieces Project Champions, their work with children from local Primary schools will be featured in the BBC Ten Pieces Project Newletter. The Exuberant Trust was honoured to support some of the children who attended Jubilate!'s Christmas Carol Concert on 17th December at Keble Chapel.

We also have some very exciting news this month as Susie Crow, Trustee has prepared a short piece about the Exuberant Trust which will be broadcast on Radio Oxford for a week commencing Monday, 11th January!

We are very pleased to have this publicity and hope that it will raise more awareness of our arts-based grants for young people in Oxfordshire. We also hope that it will encourage more people to attend our fundraising Music at the Limes concerts, in Standlake, as we rely on the donations that we receive in to provide our grant-funding programme.

February

Many thanks go to Fatima Lahham, who played a wonderful programme of Recorder music spanning the 13th-21st Centuries at the Music at the Limes concert on 17th January. Huge thanks go to all who attended the concert and for the donations received in aid of the Trust, which together with online payments raised a total of £376. This money will help the Exuberant Trust to provide another grant for a young, creative person in Oxfordshire.

Fatima is currently involved with the Concerts for Syria project that she set up in 2015, to facilite and promote fundraising concerts and music events that support Syrian refugees. The next concert is at 1.30pm on 28th February at Keble College Chapel, Oxford (part of its Early Music Festival Programme). Fatima has an online donation page for the Save the Children's Syria Appeal here and she is also raising funds for the Appeal by running the London Marathon 2016 with her recorder! Please do consider supporting this extremly worthy cause either online or in person at one of the concerts!

We now look forward to the second concert of our Music at The Limes Spring season on Sunday, 21st February at 4pm. David Mears, clarinet and Peter McMullin, accompaniment will perform a varied programme of music entitled Dreams and Fantasies, which will include music by Schumann, Ireland, Gaubert, Debussy & Bozza.

March

We are extremely grateful to David Mears and Peter McMullin for performing at the Music at the Limes concert, Dreams and Fantasies on Sunday, 21st February at 4pm. An outstanding £558 was received in donations and many thanks to all who attended the concert and helped raise funds for future grants.

The final concert of the Music at The Limes Spring Season, will be at the later time of 6pm on Sunday, 20th March. Former Exuberant Trust award-winner and Baritone Edward Kay will perform a recital including Schumann's Liederkreis song-cycle, with piano accompianment by Matthew Ryan.

Damien Ramsurn has agreed to become an Exuberant Trustee. Damien is a music teacher specialising in Classical and Jazz piano and will make a valuable contribution to the Trust with his knowledge and experience in the field of education and music.

May

The Summer-Autumn Season of Music at The Limes opens with a concert by regular performer Henry Roche, piano who will be joined by Mary Mundy, cello for a programme to include Beethoven’s Cello Concerto No. 5 in D, Schumann & Chopin at 6pm Sunday, 22nd May.

Many thanks go Edward Kay, baritone and Matthew Ryan, piano acc. for their delightful recital at Music at The Limes on Sunday, 20th March and to all those who attended the concert and donated to the Trust.

Many congratulations go to Multi-Story, who have won the 2015: Audiences and Engagement Category of the RPS Music Awards, announced in May 2016. Multi-Story is a project that brings classical music to unexpected places, run by composer Kate Whitley and conductor Christopher Stark and has been resident orchestra at Bold Tendencies in a multi-storey Car Park in Peckham, London since 2011. Kate Whitley is a former Exuberant Trust grant award-winner.

We have exciting news about Exuberant Trust grant award-winner Matthew Simpson, composer and clarinettist. He has just written his first opera Pleasure, released his first album Night Works and has also been nominated for the South Bank Times Breakthrough Awards 2016. You can read more about Matthew’s achievements and find a link to vote for his nomination here.

Fatima Lahham has asked for support to help her ensemble IMPROVISO to be selected to play at the Styriarte Festival, Austria this summer. IMPROVISO have recorded their concert at Middle Temple Hall, which viewers can watch and ‘Like’ on YouTube.

June

Damien Ramsurn has agreed to become an Exuberant Trustee. Damien currently works as a School Manager and is also a music teacher, specialising in Classical and Jazz piano and will make a valuable contribution to the Trust with his knowledge and experience in the field of education and music.

Damien studied piano and saxophone as a child, gaining a music degree at piano at Leeds College of Music. He worked for the British and International Federation of Festivals, Macclesfield, looking after 300 youth music, dance and speech festivals worldwide, some 18,000 adult volunteers and over 1 million performers under the age of 18. Damien also worked for the Junior Guildhall School of Music, London, running their String Training Programme for under 12s and managing their symphony orchestra of 14 to 18 year olds.

July

The Summer-Autumn Season of Music at The Limes continues with a hugely exciting concert from pianist Utku Asan from Turkey on Sunday, 3rd July at 5pm. Although only 16 years of age, Utku is an extremely talented musician and will perform a programme to include Bach, Beethoven & Mendelssohn.

Many thanks go to Henry Roche, piano and Mary Mundy, cello for their wonderful performance at The Limes on Sunday, 22nd May, which featured Beethoven's Cello Concerto no. 5 in D and pieces by Schumann and Chopin. Thanks also to all those who attended the concert and donated over £450 to the Exuberant Trust, which will help to fund another grant.

September

The next Music at The Limes concert will be at 7pm Sunday, 4th September with regular Limes performers William Leigh Knight, baritone & John Collis, piano. Their concert Castles and Castanets - Reflections of Iberia promises a programme with a Spanish flavour, including music by Ravel, Lorca & Poulenc.

The Exuberant Trust wishes to extend huge thanks to pianist Utku Asan for his outstanding performance at The Limes on Sunday, 3rd July. Although Utku is 16 years old, his command of the piano and recital including technically challenging works by Bach, Beethoven & Mendelssohn was breathtaking. With many thanks to all those who attended the concert and donated £305 to the Trust.

October

As we near the end of the Summer/Autumn season, we welcome back the EYOT TRIO to the Limes for their concert on 6pm Sunday, 2nd October. Sarah Verney Caird - piano, Eric Clarke - violin & Bruno Guastalla - cello will perform works by J.S. Bach , Jean Huré, Arvo Pärt and a new piece by Joseph Currie.

Many thanks must go to William Leigh Knight and John Collis, whose concert Castles and Castanets on Sunday, 4th September once again provided a wonderful and varied programme for baritone and piano. A total of £228 was donated by the audience, for which we are hugely grateful.

November

The year seems to have suddenly flown by as we soon approach the the last of our Autumn series of concerts on SATURDAY, 12th November, at 5pm. This concert is rather special as it features a rare ‘Double-Reed’ concert for the Limes with some rather young, but extremely talented musicians. Eleanor Voik (11 years) and Ewan Millar (14 years) will perform a recital of music for Bassoon and Oboe through the ages, including pieces by Handel, Telemann, Weber, Saint Saëns, Rubbra and Bozza.

Eleanor is studying for the DipABRSM in both bassoon and recorder. This performance at the Limes (as a public recital), will help prepare Eleanor for her bassoon exam this Winter. We are extremely grateful to Eleanor and to the superb oboeist Ewan Millar (who has already achieved his DipABRSM) for performing in aid of the Exuberant Trust. Eleanor was awarded a grant by the trust, which will pay for the rehearsal time and performance fees of her Diploma acompanist and we wish her the very best of luck for her exam!

The EYOT TRIO, (Sarah Verney Caird - piano, Eric Clarke - violin & Bruno Guastalla - cello) provided The Limes with an extremely enjoyable and adventurous evening with their Music at the Limes concert on Sunday, 2nd October. As always, huge thanks go to our generous performers and audience who donated a total of £450 to the trust, which will fund another grant for young creative artists in Oxfordshire.

December

Many thanks go to Eleanor Voik and Ewan Millar who performed at The Limes on 12th November and delighted our audience with a recital of music for Bassoon and Oboe through the ages, including pieces by Handel, Telemann, Weber, Saint Saëns, Rubbra and Bozza. We are also very grateful to our generous supporters who donated £150.

As another year ends, the Exuberant Trust would like to wish all of our performers and supporters a very Happy Christmas. Without the generous gifts of your time, talents and donations, we wouldn't be able to continue with our aim to support young artists in Oxfordshire.