Britain may not have a composing tradition to rival those of France or Germany, but its musical life is the richest in the world. The Royal Albert Hall's season of Promenade concerts is bigger than any other annual music festival; the BBC, which sponsors the Proms, has long been the world's premier musical patron, and the orchestras which it finances reinforce that claim. Britain's most important concert halls are the trio under the umbrella of the South Bank Centre. The Barbican Centre - built 25 years later - houses London' s other main hall, but acoustically unbeatable competition now comes from Symphony Hall in Birmingham, with Manchester's Bridgewater Hall close behind. The Wigmore Hall is the focus for Britain's thriving chamber-music scene. In the last few years Glyndebourne has rebuilt its opera house, the Royal Opera House has completed a highly successful revamp and English National Opera's Coliseum is now undergoing radical renovation. Young musicians come from all over the world to study at Britain's conservatoires, which turn out a steady stream of superbly accomplished soloists and orchestral musicians.
Michael Church, Classical Music Journalist
We work across the spectrum of classical music – from early music to contemporary classical to choral music. As we aim to present the best of contemporary UK performing arts we focus on new work by living composers, new repertoires and imaginative ways of presenting contemporary classical music to new audiences.
Due to the cost, we are unable to engage with programming large-scale orchestras unless we can attract substantial funding from external sources. Therefore we rarely tour large-scale work but are open to collaborations with external backers. However, we do sometimes get involved with larger organisations and ensembles for educational projects. Our work in this field is diverse - from projects with artists such as Mercury nominee Joanna MacGregor, to work with smaller ensembles such as Psappha music, to music education development projects such as one held in Croatia from 1999-2001. This project was led by the well-known British education adviser Richard Frostick. The final phase of the work culminated in a major showcase and performance of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ Turn of the Tide, for symphony orchestra (the Croatian Radio & Television Orchestra), students and a massed young people's choir of 500.
Cross Border was a collaboration between composer and musician Joanna MacGregor and choreographer and dancer Jin Xing which toured China in late 2002.
Joanna MacGregor in Cross Border, China.
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