Classically Yours
Classically Yours brings high-quality live orchestral music to the East Riding of Yorkshire. At its core is participation, offering people of all ages the chance to collaborate with professional orchestras to create and perform music together.
What we wanted to achieve
Many people in the East Riding of Yorkshire were unable to access world-class orchestral music due to living in geographically dispersed communities with limited public transport and minimal cultural infrastructure.
Originally conceived for Hull UK City of Culture 2017, Classically Yours was developed to reach new audiences by addressing the lack of opportunity to experience live orchestral music in a region with historically lower levels of cultural engagement.
Makes me feel the town is not forgotten.
~ Audience member (2023, Withernsea)
What we do
We work with local communities and Manchester Camerata and Sinfonia Viva to create meaningful opportunities for people to engage with orchestral music to challenge perceptions of classical music and make it feel more accessible and relevant. The ongoing programme includes:
- Creative projects with communities and schools
- Family programmes offering engaging first-time orchestral experiences for children
- Health and wellbeing projects, including relaxed concerts for those in care settings or with health needs
- A series of culmination events and concerts in the community.
Activities have engaged older people in care homes, community and school choirs, pre-school aged children, a learning disability theatre group and the County Youth Orchestra. Ranging from regular creative workshops to performance opportunities.
The most recent 2023-2024 programme featured:
- 2 community-wide participatory projects in Withernsea and Hornsea
- 1 climate-focussed co-creation project with schools
- 2 small-scale orchestral concerts for families with young children
- 3 standalone orchestral performances.
It warms your heart, moves people to tears, and staff say 'Wow' when they hear the quality of the music. It puts residents on a par with other people, and they aren't always treated in this way. The most important thing to come out of this project was the way we were treated - we were treated as equals.
~ Care Home (2024, Withernsea)
Outcomes
Classically Yours continues to grow, focused on building and deepening partnerships with local community groups, ensuring their voice is a key part of our programme planning.
Our impact report for the first four years of Classically Yours reviewed our evidence and learning and has informed the development of the programme. We continue to actively evaluate the programme and embed learning into the planning process.
In 2018, Orchestras Live won the RPS (Royal Philharmonic Society) Music Award for Audiences and Engagement, with our partner East Riding of Yorkshire Council, for our flagship project, Classically Yours.
Between 2016-2020 our partnerships have:
- Significantly increased the number of concerts and orchestras programmed in East Riding each year, from a baseline of 2 per year to 40 concerts over four years by six different orchestras. This has substantially improved the range and quality of the classical music offer.
- Developed and sustained new audiences in the East Riding, where new audiences rose from a previous 4% to 25% in Year 1. In Year 2 repeat mailing list bookers rose from 8.5% to 20%. In years 3 and 4, Classically Yours continued to reach new audiences and maintain repeat booker levels of 12-14%.
- Embedded a new creative participation strand across orchestral activity that has been key to supporting audience development and attracting new audiences. 217 workshops have been delivered over four years, engaging 35 school/community groups. 43% of these engaged with Classically Yours more than once.
Students performing as part of the 2024 ENERGY project.
Credit: Robling Photography- Co-created 17 new pieces of music with participants.
- Stimulated live music audiences in Withernsea, a small 6,000-strong community with no previous track record of concert-going, sustained into Year 3 with 22% new bookers for concerts.
- Discovered large latent demand for orchestral music with families with younger children through a new strand of programming for family audiences.
- Seen positive impact on community cohesion and artistic ambition.
We believe our RPS win was a watershed moment for community engagement. The RPS Music Awards are the highest recognition for live classical music in this country – the Oscars of the music sector – and our win placed projects truly driven by their local participants alongside the most prestigious orchestral venues and programmes in the UK.
[We learnt] how creative any topic can be in a musical setting if ‘we’ provide the inspiration!
~ Teacher, ENERGY
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Partners, performers and venues
Orchestras Live, East Riding of Yorkshire Council (Arts, Community and Public Health), East Riding Music Education Hub, ReMarkable Arts, Manchester Camerata, Sinfonia Viva, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, The Hallé, The Multi-Story Orchestra, Kate Pearson, James Redwood, Richard Taylor, Tim Steiner, Bridlington Spa, Toll Gavel Church Beverley, Meridian Centre Withernsea, Pocklington Arts Centre, Arts Council England, Foyle Foundation.