Coronavirus Fund for Freelance Musicians

Steve Reich, "I wish you great success in this humane and much needed project".

We're a music and education charity seeking to raise £7000 to employ freelance musicians, whose livelihoods have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, to perform and record a new, multi-movement work written by 12 leading composers from around the world.

This valuable, professional work will provide crucial financial support along with the creative outlet and collaborative experience that is so central to musicians' lives.

These fantastic performers, many from the Bristol Ensemble, have been at the heart of our work for many years and we owe much of our success to their talent and generosity of spirit.

Project Details
The 12 composers who will be writing new work for this project* are:

• Sally Beamish
• Gavin Bryars
• Michael Ellison
• Graham Fitkin
• Dame Evelyn Glennie
• Sadie Harrison
• Nico Muhly
• John Pickard
• Geoff Poole
• Howard Skempton
• Mark-Anthony Turnage
• * and Steve Reich who has granted us exclusive rights to create and use an arrangement of our choice of one his works.

Once we have received the completed pieces, the performers will record their individual parts at home, in “lockdown”, in accordance with government restrictions. With your help, they will receive upfront payment of their recording fees, providing immediate relief from financial hardship.

The recorded parts will then be edited and mixed for online distribution (via streaming and download sites).

In a gesture of support for, and solidarity with, their performing colleagues, the composers are waiving their commission fees; also, Sound World is not charging a fee for running this project.

Any revenue from online sales and any donations received beyond our initial target will go towards helping more musicians, making a difference to more people's lives.

This project focuses on creating something genuinely positive and valuable out of a terrible situation. It solves an immediate financial crisis, not through charity handouts, but through a wonderful, collaborative, artistic endeavour. It will make a real difference to the participants, not just in material terms, but to their wellbeing and mental health.

It will provide the wider public with a great example of what art and artists can achieve and contribute in a time of need.

About Sound World
Sound World promotes wider access to great music through concert series, commissioning programmes and educational events. Our concerts and commissions place the best regional performers and composers alongside those of national and international renown, creating programmes of high ambition and strong local identity.

We work with over 60 partner schools, many in some of the UK’s most disadvantaged areas, to ensure that all children, regardless of background, have access to the broad social, cognitive and developmental benefits of music education.

We also run an annual series of composition workshops and provide advanced guidance and mentoring to the region's best young musicians, enabling our most promising talent to flourish.