Report for West Midlands Chamber Music Societies meeting, April 2024

Just before Easter we sent out mailings to our Central and Northern lists, enclosing several brochures for summer festivals whose plans are not usually confirmed until after the deadline for the annual Chamber Music Plus brochures.

This year we included:
Central: Elgar Festival, Carducci Festival, English Haydn Festival, English Music Festival, Leamington Music Festival, Musica Deo Sacra, Penarth Chamber Music Festival, Hellens Music, Whittington Festival

North: Corbridge Chamber Music Festival, Music in the Round, Northern Aldborough Festival, Ribble Valley International Piano Week

This seems an increasingly popular way to reach audiences – I’m sure everyone has noticed that many venues no longer display flyers/brochures, especially from outside organisations.  We always carry a box of brochures in the car and take them to any concerts we attend; Chris regularly delivers batches to various venues when he’s in Birmingham for his CBSO Chorus rehearsals, and as we both have relatives in Manchester/Yorkshire we distribute them there too.

Once again this year we have been including extra events on the website without charge – our aim is always to help the classical music industry at large reach more people!

Dates for preparing the 2024/25 Chamber Music Plus brochures are already in our diaries.  The invitation letters will be sent out by mid-May, with a copy deadline of Monday 10 June.  We aim to have the printed brochures delivered in the week of 29 July and the mailings will go out shortly after that.  As usual, we will have brochures available to audiences at the Three Choirs Festival, and also Musica Deo Sacra in Tewkesbury Abbey as this year they run during the same week.