Friends of the Hampshire County Youth Orchestra

The Friends play a pivotal role providing financial and practical support, so the orchestra’s talented musicians are able to access life-enriching experiences, explore their potential and advance their musical education and talent. These musicians are full of vigour and enthusiasm, sharing their passion of performing within and beyond the Hampshire community - a big success story for Hampshire and something we can all be proud of. 

Through a range of fundraising activities, the Friends regularly raises around £25,000 every year to facilitate the general running of the orchestras, as well as subsidise the week-long Spring residential "Bryanston" course, biennial European tour and exchange trips, so that all may participate irrespective of financial background. 

This is always a stretching target and the Friends continually look to expand its potential funding sources. 

Our musicians have been described as dedicated, hardworking, focused role models for Hampshire. By encouraging and fuelling our young musicians to develop a strong work ethic, commit to reaching high standards and boost confidence, they are enabled to thrive and contribute within their local communities. They collaborate with local ensembles to inspire younger musicians, in so doing, sharing their skills and knowledge with self-belief and passion. 

To bring our people and activities to life, we invite you to look at this short video, which profiles a pre-pandemic exchange trip when members of the orchestra joined forces with the choir of the Liebigschule in Giessen to perform Mozart’s Requiem at Romsey Abbey. The exchange trips continue to take place with the next one planned for February 2025.

The development opportunities accessible to our musicians through courses and tours financially supported by the Friends, enable many every year to gain the practical experience needed in support of their dream of building a career in music. Many continue their musical studies into higher education, returning to the orchestra to perform concertos and support the orchestra in community music making.

Through this campaign we hope to refresh contact with former supporters and members who foster fond memories of their time with the orchestra, and find new donors with an understanding and appreciation of the benefits that education in and performance of music can bring to young people in our locality. 

By donating you will be helping us build solid foundations upon which to plan and offer many more opportunities to HCYO’s musicians of the future.

The Friends will continue to work tirelessly to raise funds to enable as many young people as possible to benefit and we hope you are willing to donate towards this cause.