Music in the Round is a charitable organisation based in
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...
,
UK that exists to promote the best in international chamber music and inspire audiences with the unique power and intensity of music played in an intimate setting.
The organisation was formed in 1984 by
Peter Cropper
Peter Cropper (19 November 1945 – 29 May 2015) was a British violinist, leader of the Lindsay Quartet, and founding Artistic Director of Music in the Round, a charitable organisation he founded in the 1980s to promote chamber music concerts.
B ...
, then the leader of Sheffield's world-renowned string quartet,
The Lindsays. Following the retirement of The Lindsays in 2005, Music in the Round formed an 11-piece chamber music group
Ensemble 360 to take up residency, which comprises a string quintet, wind quintet and piano.
Its home venue, Sheffield's
Crucible Studio Theatre, is a wonderfully intimate 'in the round' space where it hosts Autumn and Spring series and the nine-day Sheffield Chamber Music Festival each year. Music in the Round also works in partnership with a number of venues in
Barnsley
Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...
,
Doncaster
Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...
and across England to help develop audiences for chamber music, reaching over 30,000 people each year.
Music in the Round believes music is for all so its programmes embrace a breadth of music, including world, folk and jazz alongside classical. It has worked with a variety of other art forms, artists and organisations including poet
Ian McMillan, actors Samuel and
Timothy West
Timothy Lancaster West, CBE (born 20 October 1934) is an English actor and presenter. He has appeared frequently on both stage and television, including stints in both ''Coronation Street'' (as Eric Babbage) and ''EastEnders'' (as Stan Carter) ...
, composers
Huw Watkins and
Stephen Montague, choreographer Anna Olejnicki and local organisations such as Museums Sheffield, Flying Donkey, Opus Independents and Ignite Imaginations.
Music in the Round is committed to commissioning and presenting the work of living composers and less well-known repertoire alongside more familiar works. In 2011 it appointed Charlie Piper as its first Associate Composer. Since 2015 it has premiered the annual Royal Philharmonic Society Chamber Music composition. It is also one of the few organisations in the country to have a Children's Composer-in-Residence, Paul Rissmann.
It has an innovative Learning & Participation] programme that delivers activity for all ages and levels of ability. Reaching 10,000 people aged 0-19 each year, it includes a unique brand of children's concerts that play to sell-out audiences across England, regularly run schools’ workshops, performance and composition classes, Early Years workshops, concert opportunities for young performers, workshops for local musicians, talks, symposiums, masterclasses and more. Regularly collaborating with Sheffield Music Hub and Sheffield Music Academy, in 2019 it led a hugely successful project, 'Schubert in Schools', with renowned baritone Roderick Williams, its singer-in-residence, to hundreds of KS3 pupils around the country.
External links
Music in the Round website
Music in Sheffield