October was a very busy month at the ABO and appears to have gone by in a flash. Specialist Manager Meetings a plenty with Education, Development & Sponsorship and Digital managers all meeting as well as very productive meetings of the Chamber Orchestras and Scottish Members. The other highlights include ABO staff meeting with the following people and organisations:

Sounds 2012 Steering and Comms; Will Hutchinson, LOCOG; Ed Vaizey MP; Public Affairs Network; Knowledge Connect; Julie's Bicycle; Seamus McGibbon, TMA; Audiences London and LSO; Sustainable Touring Steering Committee; Marshall Marcus, SBC; Robert van Leer, Barbican; Richard Reeves, DEMOS; Clare Cooper, MMM; DHA Communications; Ruth Hansford, BBC; Cathy Graham, British Council; Dame Liz Forgan, ACE; Michelle Abbey; Dominic Fyfe, ACE. Keith and Mark were at the Conservative Party Conference and at the LMP reception to announce their new music director, Mark attended an NCVO meeting in Manchester, and Keith the ISM lunch. Mark spoke at an MU seminar on the music industry, and we held our New Music session at the ArtMusFair in Glasgow (see below). 

We attended concerts by the Harlem Quartet, BBC Concert Orchestra with Dame Shirley Bassey, Britten Sinfonia with Efterklang, LSO, RSNO, SCO, BBC Scottish SO, NLO, London Sinfonietta, the OAE's Night Shift and the British Council's Resound concert. 

Oh, and Chris and Keith got another year older....

November and December will see the following Specialist Manager Meetings taking place:
 

11 November: Concert & Orchestra Managers' Meeting, Wigmore Hall, London
19 November: Marketing Networking Meeting, Royal Albert Hall, London
24 November: ABO AGM & CEOs Forum, Québec Government Office, Pall Mall, London
2 December: Opera & Ballet Managers' Meeting, Royal Opera House, London (tbc)

If you would like to attend one of these meetings please log on to the Members Area of the ABO website and then proceed to Events and book the relevant Specialist Manager Meeting.

Music And Me - dispelling the jargon behind health and safety on the platform Tuesday 17 November Course leader Jayne Sutton, a freelance Health and Safety consultant who spoke at the October 2008 ABO Concert & Orchestra Managers' Meeting. Course venue: Wigmore Hall, London.

All that you ever wanted to know about Fundraising but were afraid to ask! - Tuesday 1 December, Course leader Sarah Gee, Senior Consultant with Dixon Raines. Course venue: LSO St. Luke's, London.

Finance for non-Finance Managers - Tuesday 8 December, Course leader Maureen McCulloch, a chartered accountant with extensive experience in charities and the arts who has been freelance trainer for twenty-one years. Course venue: LSO St. Luke's, London.

For detailed information on the content of these valuable training opportunities please visit the Brass Tacks section of the ABO website.
 

We are delighted to announce the publication of the second in our series of briefings, as part of the ABO communications campaign. Orchestras into the Future, launched at the Philharmonia's RE-RITE installation at The Bargehouse at an event chaired by The Guardian's Chief Arts Writer Charlotte Higgins, explores innovation through new technology, new forms of concert presentation and new ways of working across the orchestral sector. You can download a copy of the briefing off the ABO website here, and do please circulate it to anyone you think would be interested. The purpose of the briefing is to communicate the value of the work our members do to government, local authorities, funding agencies, corporate sponsors and other key stakeholders.

Next year's annual conference launches at the AGM and CEOs Forum on 24 November. Watch out for more information on the website and in the conference edition of Classical Music Magazine. 

We are delighted to be guests of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in Glasgow and it is shaping up to be an exciting and stimulating conference once more. Should you want to get in early and book some flights or if you are going to let the train take the strain the information you need to know is: Conference opens at 2pm on Wednesday 24 February (with Registration opening at around noon) and closes at 3:30pm on Friday 26 February. We will be at the Glasgow Royal Concert Halls. Look forward to seeing you there and watch out for the special deals coming your way soon!

A report on the ABO session at Artmusfair, which revisited our New Music Seminar held in 2004 and looked at new music commissioning by British orchestras five years on, can be found here. The session was chaired by Susannah Simons and panelists included Sally Groves, Andrew Cornall, Andrew Burke, Gavin Reid, Stef Connix and Anna Meredith.
 

We had another application for a Silver award by the October deadline. Knowing that there are some Bronzes in the pipeline we are going to extend this deadline to the middle of November so please do get applications into Keith.

We are also about to embark on a big evaluation of the whole charter as it nears the end of its first three year cycle. An external evaluator will be appointed in the next few days and will report back at the conference in February. If you want to be involved in this process please do drop Keith an email 

This autumn we’re inviting as many people as possible across the UK to perform the 'Hallelujah Chorus' from Handel's Messiah. The BBC, led by Radio 3, in partnership with English National Opera, encourages everyone to find their voice and discover the joy of singing in Handel’s anniversary year.

If you are already an experienced singer or in a choir, then perform the 'Hallelujah Chorus' in November or December and send us details via bbc.co.uk/sing so we can encourage audiences to find you. You can record your own performance and upload to the website from November as part of one giant 'Hallelujah Chorus'.

If you are new to singing you can find your local choir performance via our interactive map, with over 200 events listed so far. Many provide the opportunity for new audiences to join in, so find out what's happening near you.

And if you don't know the Hallelujah Chorus, a newly commissioned series of downloads are now available online to help everyone learn the music. Plus vocal tips and tutorials in the 'learn to sing' section for beginners.

Listen out for Sing Hallelujah this autumn on BBC Radio 3, BBC Local Radio in England and across the BBC in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Find out more at bbc.co.uk/sing.

Please forward this information on to any choral societies, vocal groups or individuals who you think may like to get involved.

The National Music Council’s (NMC) LEA Music Awards 2009 Major Trophy has been awarded
jointly to Kingston upon Hull and Manchester Local Education Authorities. Diplomas of Special Merit
have been awarded to: Portsmouth and Tower Hamlets, and Diplomas of Merit go to Blackpool,
Bolton, Devon, East Ayrshire, East Lothian, Oxfordshire, Redbridge and Southwark. The PRS
Foundation will be awarding a Diploma of Special Merit to Bolton, and Diplomas of Merit to Devon,
East Lothian, Redbridge and Southwark for their commitment to creative music making. Those
Awards will be presented on Monday 9 November 2009 at the Austrian Cultural Forum in London.
The Major Trophy will be also be presented to Kingston upon Hull and Manchester on stage at the
Royal Albert Hall, during Music for Youth’s Schools Proms on Monday 9 November.

Arts Council England has made the fifth round of awards from its £40 million Sustain fund for organisations under pressure as a result of the recession. Successful applicants include ABO members Aldeburgh Music, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, The Sage Gateshead and Wigmore Hall. Further details of the awards made and declined are published on the Arts Council England website here.

Arts Council England has announced the 12 winning commissions for Artists taking the lead. There is one music project, Brian Irvine’s The NEST, which invites the people of Northern Ireland to create art on a massive scale through the simple act of donating an object. These will be collected and assembled into a gigantic creation to be built in Belfast by a team of artists and designers. THE NEST will become a focal point for a large-scale music and choral event, composed, written and directed by Brian Irvine and John McIlduff - inspired and performed by the people of Northern Ireland. Brian Irvine is currently the Associate Composer with the Ulster Orchestra and together with his own 12-piece ensemble has conducted and performed all over the world and appeared at many international festivals to widespread critical acclaim. He has won a number of awards for his music including a British Composers Award for his opera The Tailor’s Daughter and a BBC Radio 3 Jazz Award.

Peer to Peer Event: Funding Transition

In common with other parts of the world such as North America and Australia, arts & cultural organisations in the UK are having to adapt to a rapidly shifting environment brought about by technological advances, shifting public interests and behaviours and reduced funding. If we are to adapt successfully we will need to evolve our working practices and our business models and we will need a public and private funding community that has a sophisticated understanding of this context and a willingness to develop their funding and investment strategies accordingly. What can we do to grow such a community, one that truly understands what we need to Design for Transition?

London Friday 4th December
9.00am for 9.30am – 11.30am
Gulbenkian Foundation, 50 Hoxton Square, London, N1 6PB

Edinburgh Monday 7th December
3.00pm for 3.30pm – 5.30pm
Dovecot Studios, 10 Infirmary Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1LT

London Mozart Players are delighted to announce the appointment of South African conductor Gérard Korsten as its fifth Music Director.