‘The Arts rely heavily on marketing, both in promoting events and in steering clients to recognise the benefit of sponsorship as a key element in the projection of their brands, their companies and their values’ said Trevor Moross, Chairman of The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, addressing the recent (18 Oct. 2006) annual Bowden Dinner of the City livery company for marketing, the Worshipful Company of Marketors.

 

Drawing on his experiences of The Academy, which is almost 50 years old, and, with over 500 CD’s to its name, is the most recorded chamber orchestra and one of the best known classical music brands in the world, he focussed on the marketing issues now facing classical music.

 

Despite being a well recognised brand made up of some of the finest musicians in the world, the Academy cannot survive without outside support; income over and above that which can be generated by performing. ‘Very few concerts in the world’ he stated, ‘can generate sufficient revenue from ticket sales alone to pay the costs of musicians, a director, or a soloist and conductor, rehearsals, travel and subsistence.’

 

Foreign touring is not a problem as their overseas promoters are able to secure sponsorship raising enough to hire The Academy and pay all the costs. But the UK is a different matter and even the five London symphony orchestras who receive Arts Council funding, need to raise additional funds, find sponsors and tour.

‘Sponsorship and selling ourselves as ‘an orchestra for hire’ are the only alternatives we have to fund London and UK concerts and ensure solvency’ he said.

 

Since the early 1980’s finding sponsorship, through influential business contacts, has become more difficult as philanthropy has been replaced by the marketing department with a Corporate Social Responsibility brief and audit committees.

 

Now the Academy has to sell itself by obtaining company support, in return for a clear business purpose. By aligning or partnering a business organisation the Academy has to consider potential challenges to its artistic integrity. It is now rare for companies to give money to the arts for altruistic reasons, and giving is usually one of the sponsor’s tools to influence customers and clients, government and staff by creating an atmosphere which makes the stakeholders feel special, or to help create the image of ‘a good company’.

 

Threats for a classical music brand from such alignments range from the pop culture, to growing competition for corporate donations from other charitable causes as well as sports and TV, and the fact that businesses have become more strategic in distributing funds to charitable causes.

 

The Academy has to prove itself in the same way as any other business: it has to be focussed on marketing, first and foremost to the concert-going public, and secondly to potential sponsors, supporters and partners.

 

‘This,’ Moross stressed, ‘can be frustrating. It is a depressing experience to try to make an impression on marketing staff who may know nothing about classical music. We have to compete with an almost unlimited demand for rugby, golf, cricket, clay pigeon shooting, football, sailing: all easily understood.

 

‘We have to bend over backwards to please those who offer us ‘the shilling’ and there are, at times, real challenges to our artistic integrity. However, most of the great composers, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, were beholden to their Emperors, Electors or the Church and were compromised by such demands but that did not diminish their legacy.’

 

The test of where to draw the line between what the Academy does for money and its effect on artistic integrity is whether the proposed activity will damage the brand? Questions considered include the type of event, the conditions under which the artists will work, adequate rehearsal time, will the repertoire show them at their best or will the players want to find another orchestra with higher artistic standards?

 

In conclusion Trevor Moross said ‘Our artistic integrity - the importance of maintaining respect for the Academy’s musicians, is all we have in order to sustain the strength of our brand – so we guard them jealously’ and to remind the Marketors and their guests that live music can enhance an event, his presentation closed to the music of two of the Academy’s finest violinists.

 

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For photo of Trevor Moross call Shirley Barnett on 020 82027821
Email: PRProjects@aol.com

 

Biography of Trevor Moross and Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.
Trevor Moross is Chairman of The Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the world renowned chamber orchestra. Born in South Africa, he studied Economics and then emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1972 where he read Estate Management at Reading University. In he 1980 became Managing Director of Dorrington Investment PLC a private property company and one of the UK’s largest private landlords. He is active in property industry politics through the industry trade association, the British Property Federation, of which he was President in 1995. He is a well known spokesman on residential property investment issues. He joined the Board of The Academy in 2002 and became Chairman in 2003. He is a Trustee of The London Festival of Chamber Music, and of The Liberal Jewish Synagogue, a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and a Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts.

 

The Academy of St Martin in the Fields was formed in 1958 as a small chamber ensemble without a conductor. Led by Neville Marriner CBE and attracting some of the finest players in London, the orchestra at first concentrated on repertoire from the Baroque era, developing a style of performance that launched the 1960’s Baroque revival. The Academy was so named after the various concert-giving societies or ‘Academies’ that had flourished in 18th century London and the famous church in which it gave its first concert on 13 November 1959.

 

Only two years later it had secured its first recording contract, with the independent L’Oiseau-Lyre label. This was to be the beginning of a literally record-breaking discography that now boasts well over 500 entries, making the Academy the most recorded chamber orchestra in the world. The Academy is particularly well-known for its Mozart recordings with Sir Neville Marriner CBE including the multi award winning soundtrack to the film ‘Amadeus’. More recently the orchestra has won critical acclaim for its recordings of Bach Keyboard Concerti with pianist Murray Perahia, the Brahms and Stravinsky Violin concerti with Hilary Hahn and Sir Neville Marriner CBE and concerti by Kurt Weill and Peteris Vasks with British violinist Anthony Marwood. Thanks to this huge recorded catalogue and widespread radio coverage, the Academy’s name has become familiar to audiences across the globe.

 

Alongside its performances with Life President Sir Neville Marriner CBE and Director Kenneth Sillito the Academy now collaborates with a number of guest directors including Murray Perahia, Joshua Bell, Gil Shaham, Anthony Marwood, Julia Fischer and Julian Rachlin. The orchestra maintains a busy schedule of international touring alongside its concerts and outreach work in the UK and in the 2005/6 season will perform in Italy, Switzerland, Romania, Holland, Germany, Poland and the USA. In 1997 the orchestra was invited to perform during the official handover celebrations in Hong Kong and more recently was the first guest orchestra to appear at the Frank Gehry designed Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. Since 2002 the Academy has been the resident orchestra at the Mostly Mozart Festival at London’s Barbican Centre.

 

Contacts

 

Contact Assistant to Trevor Moross:
Philippa Park: 020 7590 9404