We are Spitalfields Music, a creative charity in Easy London which aims to bring diverse communities together through performance, a creative leadership programme, and projects in the community. We began our journey as an annual festival, and since 1976, Spitalfields Music Festival has run every year.
1976-1995
Our Beginnings
Spitalfields Festival was founded in 1976 led by Director Richard Hickox and the local community of Spitalfields. At this time, the historic Christ Church Spitalfields, a Grade 1 listed building was then under threat of demolition. To raise funds for the building and manage its restoration, the Friends of Christ Church Spitalfields came together first to produce a one-off concert, which then developed into the annual festival that we still run to this day. In 1995, Spitalfields Festival became its own separate charitable organisation, splitting from the Friends of Christ Church Spitalfields in 1995, and we later renamed ourselves Spitalfields Music.
1989-
Education
In 1989, the festival expanded its impact by founding its education programme, initially working with local schools in Spitalfields, and in 1990 Simon Foxley was appointed as the first Education Officer to be employed by a UK Festival. Our relationships with local schools have continued growing since then, and our community programmes have expanded into work with special educational needs and disability settings, care homes, hospitals, and youth and community centres. The programme now operates year-round, centred around Tower Hamlets, but also operating in neighbouring boroughs including the City of London, Hackney and Newham.
Highlights of our education and community programme have included:
An annual music and creative writing residency in Cherry Trees, a primary school for children with severe emotional and behavioural difficulties;
‘Sing for your Lunch’, a city workers choir which met weekly at Bishopsgate Institute; the first dedicated music leader training programme in the UK; and writing original pieces through community collaborations to be performed at the Festival.
Jonathan Dove’s 2005 piece ‘On Spital Fields’, a community cantata written in collaboration with five schools and an older people’s community choir. Spitalfields Music received the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters Award and the Royal Philharmonic Society Award for Education for this project.
David Lang’s ‘Crowd Out’, a co-commission between Spitalfields Music, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, and the Berlin Philharmonic.
1995
Commissions
Spitalfields Music Festival has a rich history as a hub for the creation of new music. In 1995-1997, Artistic Directors Michael Berkeley, Anthony Payne and Judith Weir introduced commissioning original pieces into the festival, which was later supported by the festival’s New Music Commission Fund from 2000. Since then, we’ve commissioned works from artists working across a spectrum of genres, including Dominic Muldowney, Gerard McBurney, Matthew King, Michael Zev Gordon, Tansy Davies, Tarik O’Regan, Cheryl Frances Hoad, and Joseph Phibbs. More recently, we have (co)commissioned composers including Errollyn Wallen, Sir James MacMillan, Electra Perivolaris, and Anibal Vidal. The festival has now commissioned over 120 new works and counting.
A New Millenium
2002 saw the start of the restoration of Christ Church, Spitalfields, which meant the festival had to relocate. So we begun our exploration of the incredible venues across East London.
Our Trainee Music Leader programme started in the early 2000s. Originally entitled the Music Animateur Apprentice Scheme, we have now trained around one hundred people, the majority of whom are still leading workshops in communities across the UK, reaching millions of participants of all ages through their work.
2008
Following a quarter century with Artistic Directors, we decided to try a different approach and appoint Associate Artists and Ensembles. In particular, we focused on the next generation of early music ensembles and on the next generation of composers and creators of new music. We also widened the range and scale of venues in which we worked, expanding in to incredible secular buildings around East London. To reflect this wider remit, we changed our name to Spitalfields Music in 2008.
2010
In 2010, regular concert programming over December developed into a fully-fledged Spitalfields Winter Festival over the course of 10 days, alongside the Summer Festival. Our Creative Learning programme continued to grow both through the year and in the festival – with young people in particular being a core part of the festival programmes, alongside established national and internationally known musicians.
2012
The Olympics came to London in 2012, and with it, we expanded our remit to reach the ‘Olympic boroughs’. In particular, working in Barking & Dagenham and Newham, as well as continuing to focus on Tower Hamlets as our home borough.
We developed an expertise in commissioning and creating early years performance events to introduce young audiences (0-5s) to music and music theatre, commissioning, developing and creating projects, then touring them in East London and nationally, meaning we were reaching audiences across the UK for the first time.
2016
From 2016, Spitalfields Music worked with various artistic curators André de Ridder, Edmund Finnis, Kate Molleson, and Errollyn Wallen, creating events such as Schumann Street, an award-winning installation in various homes around Spitalfields which reimagined Schumann’s Dichterliebe in a range of musical styles.
2020
In December in the midst of covid lockdowns, we presented a day-long online festival, featuring performances by Errollyn Wallen, Katie Melua, the Dunedin Consort, Chineke! Junior Orchestra, S.I.Martin, The Miller-Porfiris Duo with Siwan Rhys, Jon Jacob and world premieres from Victoria Benito, Joy Effiong, Bobbie-Jane Gardner, Millicent James, Sarah Rodgers, Jasmin Kent Rodgman, Susannah Self, and Heloise Werner.
Now
Since the pandemic, we’ve concentrated on creative workshops in schools, often focussing on well-being and mental health in the wake of the covid-19 interruptions in young peoples’ education; deepening our commitment to creative leadership through the Trainee Music Leader and Trainee Trustee programmes, alongside the open access youth singing collective New YVC; and commissioning and programming bold new works, which include 56 in the past three years alone.
Find out more
Spitalfields Music – Who’s Who
As a charity, Spitalfields Music is governed by a board of trustees, with several committees. It has been led variously by Festival Managers, Executive Directors and CEOs including Judith Serota 1988-2007, Abigail Pogson from 2008, Ellie Gussman, Stephen Newbould, and from 2019, Sarah Gee, who also acts as Artistic Director. Spitalfields Music is part of Arts Council England’s National Portfolio, and raises the remainder of its income from generous individuals, trusts and foundations, and ticket sales.
To find out more about Spitalfields Music’s current team, click here
Artistic Directors
Spitalfields Festival’s Artistic Directors have shaped the artistic direction of the Festival. The first Artistic Director appointed was Richard Hickox in June 1990 although he acted informally in this capacity from 1976. Later Artistic Directors include Chris Sayers June 1994; Michael Berkeley, Anthony Payne and Judith Weir (jointly) June 1995-December 1997; Judith Weir June 1998-June 2000; Stephen Johns December 2000; Anthony Burton June 2001; Jonathan Dove December 2001-June 2006; Diana Burrell December 2006-June 2009.