Aylesbury Symphony Orchestra Mission Statement
The objective of the Orchestra is to facilitate the study, practice and performance of orchestral music, in order to foster public knowledge and appreciation of such music by mean of performance. In addition, the Orchestra aims to nurture the talent of younger players, by providing opportunities for both regular members and soloists.
Supporting statements
1. Management
As per the Constitution of the Orchestra, the day to day running of the Orchestra is invested in a Committee consisting of a duly elected Honorary Chairperson, Honorary Secretary and Honorary Treasurer and 4 other Committee members, who between them will ensure that the tasks of Orchestral Management, Librarianship, Publicity and Communications are catered for. The Committee may co-opt additional members. The Officers and the other Committee members are elected by, and out of, the Society’s Members at the Annual General Meeting; they hold office for one year and are eligible for re-election. In addition to the above, the Federal Representative, who is also appointed at an Annual General Meeting, is a member of Committee, but remains in office until replated.
The Conductor and Leader are both entitled to attend all committee meetings in an advisory capacity, but have no voting power.
The Committee will meet regularly throughout the year. All non-trivial decisions should be be subject to general agreement or, where there is no obvious consensus, a majority vote of the Committee and recorded in the Minutes
At their discretion, the Committee may form sub-committees to tackle specific issues. The proceedings of such sub-committees will be Minuted and their conclusions reported back to Committee, with any key decisions needing to be ratified by the main Committee.
2. Programme choice
Works will be chosen by consultation with the Conductor and Leader to provide a varied series of programmes, which can be performed to a good standard, and which will appeal to the Orchestra’s current and prospective audience. The inclusion of more complex and lesser-known works from time to time should ensure that both members and audience are able to broaden their knowledge of the repertoire, providing this is not detrimental to the overall concert experience.
The Orchestra will (except for any “popular” concerts) typically employ one or more soloists to perform a work or works selected by the Orchestra, with the purpose of increasing the appeal of the programme, fostering young talent and inspiring both members of the orchestra and any young musicians in the audience.
Typically, the Orchestra will perform one concert each year which contains more “popular” works such as music from films or musicals. These programmes will be designed to appeal to younger people, thus aiming to broaden our audience base.
A balance should be struck, over a season or more, between works which are out of copyright and thus inexpensive to hire or purchase and works which are still in copyright and thus expensive to hire, so that the orchestra may live within the budget set by the Treasurer.
3. Membership fees
Membership fees will be set by Committee, based on the advice of the Treasurer, and will largely reflect the annual costs of running the Orchestra divided by the number of Members.
4. Soloists
Soloists will be chosen by the Orchestra after consultation with the conductor. In accordance with the Orchestra’s objectives, preference will be given to younger soloists who have demonstrated their potential, for example by winning awards such as the Philip and Dorothy Green Award for Young Concert Artists run by Making Music.
5. Conductor and Leader
The Orchestra will select and employ a Conductor who they believe is capable of successfully coaching the orchestra to a strong performance and improving the knowledge and skills of the individual players.
The Orchestra will also employ a Leader who has the relevant skills and experience to ensure that we follow their guidance, including introducing appropriate bowings for the string sections, coaching the correct string techniques, and assisting the conductor with playing as an ensemble.
In the event of the Conductor or Leader standing down, a replacement will be chosen by inviting applications and, if necessary, auditioning the most promising candidates, thus enabling the views of Members to be taken into consideration.
Both the Conductor and Leader will be employed on the basis of annually renewable contracts.
6. Audience
By selecting programmes which appeal to a wide cross-section of the concert-going public and delivering them to a high standard, we aim to build the trust of our audience such that they will return for future concerts, thus growing our participating audience with a view to filling the concert venue at each concert.
The Orchestra will employ all means at their disposal to publicise our concerts, from more traditional methods such as displaying posters and leaflet drops to more modern methods such as social media, recognising that no single method is sufficient on its own and that different methods will reach different audience demographics.