The Master’s Newsletter, July 2015

Dear Member,

It has been a pleasure to meet so many of you since my last newsletter.

Thank you very much for your support particularly at our Company Concerts, the Livery Dinner, the Prince’s Prize Finals, the Freeman’s Lunch, the Yeomen’s Annual Party, the Young Jazz Musician Award, the Midsummer Banquet and lunch following the July Court.

There is now a Master’s Page on the Company website www.wcom.org.uk in the Members Section. Here you can see the main events which the Clerk and I have attended on behalf of the Company and which are reported to each Court Meeting and the Master’s newsletter. Rabbi Baroness Julia Neuberger’s powerful address on “Music and Health” which she gave at the Midsummer Banquet will also be included here shortly.

Congratulations
At the Court held on July 15th, we offered our congratulations to:
Liveryman Karl Jenkins on becoming a Knight in the Queen’s Birthday Honours and to Court Assistant Lady Brewer and Freeman David Whelton on being awarded the OBE.

Pastmaster John Rubinstein, who was installed as Master of the Cordwainers Company on 9th July

Liveryman Rt. Revd Graeme Knowles on his election as a Court Assistant to join the Court in October 2016 and Michael Hockney and Richard Lyne who were elected as Stewards from the 2015 October Court. Catherine McGuinness, elected as a Court Assistant last year, will join the Court in October this year.

The Biddy Baxter and John Hosier Music Trust
In the Spring issue of Preserve Harmony, Liveryman Biddy Baxter wrote about her fascinating experience of being the Castaway on Desert Island Discs. Biddy’s late husband, Liveryman John Hosier who died in 2000, had been Principal of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and then Director of the Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts. Biddy established the John Hosier Music Trust in John’s memory to support outstanding and needy post-graduate young musicians under the patronage of Sir Simon Rattle.
We are honoured that Biddy and her Trustees have decided, with the blessing of Sir Simon Rattle, that the Trust will in future be administered by the Worshipful Company of Musicians and thank Biddy for a most generous initial donation.

Appointment of a part-time Administrative Assistant in the Company Office
We have received generous donations from Freemen Oscar and Margaret Lewisohn and from Liveryman Sir Richard and Lady Stilgoe through the Alchemy Foundation.

This means we can now go ahead with recruiting a part-time assistant to support both the Yeoman Programme and the work of the Biddy Baxter and John Hosier Music Trust (for which the Company receives an administration fee) If you know of anyone that you think might be interested please let the Clerk know so that he can forward them the details of the post.

More Good News
Our Immediate Pastmaster, Sir Anthony Cleaver, has secured magnificent donations amounting to £100,000 from the Rothschild Bank and from Sir Evelyn Rothschild, through the Eranda Foundation to endow The Prince’s Prize in memory of Leopold de Rothschild, who was a Liveryman of the Company for over 50 years.

The Worshipful Company of Musicians John Christie Award 50th Anniversary Celebration – Monday 12 October 2015 at the Royal College of Music, Britten Theatre www.rcm.ac.uk/events/boxoffice
Thank you to all who have already booked tickets.

This special event is part of our fundraising efforts to raise endowment funds needed to secure the next 50 years of this prestigious Award. Worth £15,000, this is Glyndebourne’s premier award to an outstanding young singer and we are delighted that Gus Christie will be joining us for the evening.
The Master of Ceremonies will be Ryland Davies, the very first winner in 1965 and amongst those taking part will be the 2014 winner Louise Alder, Duncan Rock (2010) and Kate Royal (2004).
Some tickets are still available at £15, £25, £45*, £60* and £75* (*these tickets include the interval reception).

The Company Archives website www.wcomarchive.org.uk
At the beginning of July, Amanda emailed details of the website to all Company members. Warm thanks to Pastmaster Paul Campion and the team of Archive volunteers who have received a number of very complimentary responses for this remarkable resource for the Company and our many external audiences.
Additional developments were reported to the July Court including:
Meetings with the City Archivists Group, the curator of Music Manuscripts at the British Library and the Royal Musical Association. Contact had also been made with the National Association of Musicians in Higher Education, the International Association of Music Libraries and the Archivists of the Ironmongers’ and Haberdashers’ Companies. Every edition of Preserve Harmony from issue 1 in 1990 and complete lists of Masters, Clerks, and Treasurers have been added to the website.

The Yeomen Programme – summary reported to the July Court:
Outreach to schools – By mid-June, John Nichols and the team of 15 volunteers had arranged 83 visits, reaching over 4,100 children, involving 30 Yeomen. These half year figures are very nearly the same as the figures for the whole of 2014! What an achievement – thank you all so much.
Freeman Jan Yerbury has volunteered to assist John by taking on “Outreach Development” – thank you Jan.
Performance Opportunities for Yeomen in 2015/early 2016
89 confirmed opportunities have been arranged by John Nichols.
Festivals include Guildford, Barnes, Rye, Ryedale, Buxton, Petworth and Two Moors. Other venues include St John’s Smith Square, St Lawrence Jewry, Thames Concerts, the Goldsmiths Company, Keele University Philharmonic, the London Arts Orchestra and the Athenaeum Club
Freeman Ruth Common has volunteered to assist John with “Performance Opportunities” in addition to the concerts at St Lawrence Jewry which she runs. Thank you Ruth.
Details of forthcoming Yeomen performances are on the Events page of the website. Please have a look and see if you are able to support them.

Membership
Since January, I have been delighted to clothe with the Livery:
Stuart Barr, Timothy Clifford Hill, Jonathan Palmer, Christopher Patey, Amanda Peat, Stephen Pinnock, David Wakefield, Stephen Willis ( January Court) and Evterpe Kassimiotis (July Court).

And to admit as Freemen:
Matthew Schellhorn (January Court)
Desmond Cecil, Oscar Lewisohn (April Court)
Charles Brookes, Philip Caine, Marion Friend, Bill Griffith, Oliver Sells and Kathleen Shiels (July Court)
The Company now has 426 Liverymen and 124 Freemen.

Awards
The Company Gold Medal was presented to Judith Weir, Master of the Queen’s Music, at the Midsummer Banquet on Wednesday 24 June.

Presented at the July Court:
The Lord Mayor’s Composition Prize 2015 (£5,000) to William Cole for his composition for Piano Trio, Bind, Weave, Spin, which will receive a second performance on Friday 23 October at the Bishopsgate Institute Hall at 1.05 pm.
The 2015 Lifetime Achievement Jazz Award to Frank Holder who celebrated his 90th birthday in April.
The 2014 Iles Medal awarded to John McCabe CBE who sadly died in February, to his widow, Mrs Monica McCabe.

The Livery Club
In May, the Club arranged a visit to Stone House, a remarkable 18th century house hidden away in South East London and earlier this month, over 20 of us had a marvellous visit to Hukvaldy, Janáček’s birthplace in the Czech Republic organised by the Livery Club President, Keith Maries, his wife Lorraine and Liveryman David Sulkin – reviews of these visits will be in the next Preserve Harmony.
The 2015 Bach Cantata Concert and Lunch will be on Friday 25th September and the Company Carol Service and Supper on Wednesday 9th December. The office will send the usual email alert when booking opens on the website for these events.

Company Card 2015
An all-purpose card is now in production which can also be used as a Christmas card. It features a stained glass window picture of St Cecilia. Packs of 10 cards, will cost £3.50 and are expected to be available to order from late September. The office will confirm this date nearer the time in an email alert.
We are very grateful to Liveryman Judith Rich for her expertise in negotiating the printing and cost of the card. Judith was Director of Cards for Good Causes from 1977 to 2000 and generated millions of pounds for charities in that role.

A list of events still to come in 2015 and known events in 2016, is attached.

In the meantime, I hope you will enjoy the rest of the Summer.

With my warmest good wishes

Kathleen Duncan
Master