St John's Smith Square announces its 2015/16 Young Artists programme

St John's Smith Square launched its Young Artists programme last year, and the latest group of artists to benefit from the concert hall's support are recorder player Tabea Debus, violinist Joo Yeon Sir, the Ligeti Quartet and the vocal ensemble the Gesualdo Six (director Owain Park).

The Young Artists programme combines the offer of a platform for concerts, with support off the concert platform in important areas like marketing, development and outreach. The Young Artists are each awarded three performance dates in St John's Smith Square over the course of the concert season, with the artists selecting their repertoire, and marketing the concerts to their own following, and producing programme notes, thus giving them the independence they need to progress in their professional careers. The concerts range from lunchtime concerts to full evening recitals and Sunday afternoon chamber music concerts.

Perhaps the most innovative part of the project is the area that the public do not see, marketing, outreach and commissioning, where groups are encouraged to develop new areas of expertise with the support of staff from St John's. The groups get a grant which is put towards developing a marketing initiative, a fund to enable the commissioning of a new work or a new edition of a piece of early music to be performed at one of the concerts. There is also training in outreach and support as they engage with communities of varying backgrounds, including designing their own workshops.

Read more at the St John's website.