Berkshire Music Trust
The Berkshire Young Musicians Trust
Formation25 October 1982 (1982-10-25)
Legal statusLimited company, Registered charity
PurposeExtra-curricular music education
HeadquartersReading
Region served
Berkshire
Membership
Private
Jon Carroll
Dawn Wren
Main organ
Board of trustees
Staff
~260
Websiteberksmusictrust.org.uk
Formerly called
Berkshire Maestros

The Berkshire Young Musicians Trust (trading as Berkshire Music Trust) is a music education charity operating in Berkshire, United Kingdom.[1]

History

The Berkshire Young Musicians Trust (BYMT) was founded in 1982. Between 2006 and 2023 it traded as Berkshire Maestros,[2] after which it was rebranded the Berkshire Music Trust.[3]

Description

The charity's aim is to bring music to a wider audience, and encourage children to play a musical instrument, sing, or play music in a group with others.[4] The charity teaches over 6,000 children in schools, bands, orchestras and choirs, and has centres in Bracknell, Newbury, Windsor, Reading and Wokingham.[5] Tuition covers a wide range of instruments, including vocals, guitar, keyboard, percussion, brass, strings and woodwind in a range of styles, and composition.[6]

Following the renaming ceremony coinciding with 40th birthday celebrations in the summer of 2023, Berkshire Music Trust adopted a new strap-line, "Making Music for Everyone", signalling their intent to expand their offerings to all ages in the Berkshire community, building upon their Parkinson's Sing-along Cafe and Dementia Sing-along Cafe.[7]

Events

In 2007, the charity's choir appeared at the BBC Proms,[8] and alongside Southbank Sinfonia at the Windsor Festival.[9] In 2014, the organisation was awarded a grant from the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation.[10] On 1 May 2016, around 1,500 of the Berkshire Maestros students performed a concert at the Royal Albert Hall. Primary school choirs from West Berkshire, Windsor and Maidenhead performed songs from musicals such as Mamma Mia!, Oliver! and The Jungle Book.[11] On 19 October 2018, the Bracknell concert band played to Elizabeth II at The Lexicon, Bracknell.[12] In 2023, the charity's county choir and string ensemble played at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle culminating in a performance of Zadok the Priest.[13]

References

  1. ↑ "The Berkshire Young Musicians Trust". Charity Commission. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
  2. ↑ "Berkshire Maestros - The Berkshire Young Musicians Trust". wokingham.gov.uk. Wokingham Borough Council. 28 October 2020.
  3. ↑ "New name for Berkshire Maestros revealed at garden party". Newbury Today. 19 July 2023. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  4. ↑ "Berkshire Maestros fundraises to bring music to toddlers and babies". Bracknell News. 13 November 2019. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  5. ↑ "Graduate Teacher Programme 2020". berkshiremaestros.org.uk. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  6. ↑ "Berkshire Maestros". Slough Borough Council. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  7. ↑ "Events outside Reading". What's On Reading. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  8. ↑ "Proms 2007 Prom 57". BBC. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  9. ↑ "Choral events". Windsor Festival 2007. Windsor Festival. 2007. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 21 January 2009.
  10. ↑ "Berkshire Maestros". Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  11. ↑ "More than a thousand Berkshire Maestros children perform at the Royal Albert Hall". Getreading.co.uk. 6 May 2016. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  12. ↑ "The Queen visits The Bracknell Lexicon". inyourarea.co.uk. 19 October 2019. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  13. ↑ "BERKSHIRE MAESTROS". Windsor Festival. Archived from the original on 16 September 2023. Retrieved 21 September 2023.
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