The background

Bradfield Festival of Music Association Charity No 1080130 was formed in 1998 as a not for profit charity to widen the awareness and appreciation of music broadly falling within the classical genre both by the general population and particularly amongst young people from Bradfield and the surrounding areas of South Yorkshire.

The Festival is run entirely by the trustees and a small group of regular volunteers, all unpaid, and relies on the generosity of sponsors, donors and grant giving bodies to part fund the festival.

From small beginnings the Festival has grown to an annual, week-long, award-winning celebration of music, which is held in the historic St Nicholas’ Church, High Bradfield, with its fine acoustic and spectacular views over the beautiful Peak District countryside on the outskirts of Sheffield.

Over time, the Festival has widened the range of music it offers, from classical to include other genres, such as film music, jazz, brass, choral and solo vocal and encouraged the exploration of contemporary works by lesser known composers through the programmes offered by festival artists. Musicians are encouraged to directly engage with the audience through a short introduction to the work(s) they are going to perform. For example, a programmed talk about the Bach Cello suites was given by Julian Lloyd Webber alongside a performance of the work by his wife, Jiaxin. Details of our past programmes and that for the coming year can be found on our webpages.

Current work with young people

Each year the Festival awards prizes to the two most promising young musicians from Sheffield Music Hub and offers them the chance to give a short performance at one of the Festival concerts.

Through our association with the Festival’s Honorary President, Julian Lloyd-Webber, we give the opportunity for outstanding emerging artists in the early stages of their professional careers to perform at the Festival, as well as the established national and international artists of the highest calibre that attract audiences, to provide a varied and outstanding programme of music.

Additionally, the offer of a concessionary ticket rate has been extended from under 17 years to include young people under 25 years of age.

Sponsorship

It costs quite a lot to provide a Festival with artists of this stature, and like most small to medium-sized Festivals, these costs are not covered through ticket sales alone. We are fortunate that support from our Patrons and Sponsors, both corporate and individual, along with donations and grants meet around half of these costs. We are forever grateful for the generosity of all these contributors to the success of the Festival and for helping us to keep ticket prices as low as possible.

How to Sponsor

If you are interested in sponsoring the Festival, or a specific concert, or wish to discuss sponsoring an artist(s) to appear at a future festival, or make a donation, then please do contact us by email (in the first instance) to the address at the bottom of the page.

Vision for the future

Several generations of young people have gone through state education with little or no exposure to instrumental tuition or formal music education and limited experience of, or exposure to, a broad range of musical genres.

The Festival Charity would like to extend its reach to enable more young people within our community of Bradfield and the surrounding areas of South Yorkshire to have access to and experience of a wide range of live music. This could be by:

• Enabling young people to attend a Festival concert, or musical event, by improving awareness, access, and affordability.
• Including an event in a relaxed and accessible style, either through an outreach event or by offering a workshop or concert experience with Festival artists.

To take this vision for the development of the Festival forward, additional funding is needed and we are actively seeking this through sponsorship, grants and donations.

If you would like to know more about sponsoring the Festival or about how to become part of the work and vision we have for the Festival charity then please, in the first instance email us at: info@bradfieldfestivalofmusic.co.uk