The Shakespeare Globe

The Radcliffe Trust awarded The Shakespeare Globe Trust a grant to support developing skills in stage craft directing.

The photograph above is from the production of Three Sisters by Anton Chekov

The grant was spent on funding an early career Assistant Director for a production of Chekov’s “Three Sisters”. Shakespeare’s Globe was delighted to be able to work with an early career Assistant Director on this production. As well as benefitting their professional development, this also enabled them to approach the play differently, which was useful as it provided a departure from some of their usual work. The Shakespeare Globe Trust hopes to be able to provide similar opportunities to more early career Assistant Directors on future productions.

The Assistant Director for the production of “Three Sisters”, was Shiv Rabheru. The grant enabled Shiv to be able to work with the creative team and the cast for three weeks from 16 December 2024 – 17 January 2025 in rehearsal, working alongside director Rory Mullarkey. Shiv’s own account of the experience is below:

“Being an assistant director at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre was a very inspiring experience and wouldn’t have been possible without The Radcliffe Trust. To support directors at this stage in their careers allows for invaluable creative development and growth. I have found myself even more sure of how I want to work as an artist and will take the tools and processes learnt from working with the Globe into my own practice. Thank you.”

Shakespeare’s Globe reported that without the grant support from The Radcliffe Trust they would have been unable to provide this role.  The grant made a significant difference to their ambition of introducing more opportunities for early career creatives.

Aurora Orchestra

The Radcliffe Trust supported the Aurora Orchestra with the production costs for two performances of Martin Suckling’s The Wolf, the Duck and the Mouse at Kings Place in November 2024 – one for families, and one for local Camden primary schools.  This production was aimed at 4-8 year-olds.  They are very grateful for the grant awarded by The Radcliffe Trust.

Based on the popular children’s book, The Wolf, the Duck and the Mouse, is a 40-minute ‘fable in music’ for orchestral ensemble and narrator, aimed specifically at 4-8year-olds. The production gives a highly entertaining and interactive introduction to orchestral instruments, while telling Barnett and Klassen’s eccentric story of the duck and the mouse who are swallowed by a wolf. Suckling pairs each character with an instrument (duck and Cor Anglais; mouse and piccolo; wolf and trombone; hunter and bassoon), who help to drive the narrative with recurring themes and musical styles; the remaining instruments (clarinet, trumpet, three horns, string ensemble and percussion) make up the sounds of the forest, along with the audience members who are invited to join in at various moments with body percussion and singing. The production was very visually engaging, with lighting effects, projections of key illustrations from the book, and movement of players to support the storytelling, including utilising parts of the auditorium and balcony.

Teachers reported how beneficial the opportunity was for broadening children’s cultural worlds, particularly as many of the young people would not ordinarily visit a concert hall. One teacher said: “as part of a culture of concert-going at Rhyl it represents part of a broader aim across the school to give these children a bigger sense of the world that is all around them in London”.

As well as giving families an engaging and fun experience of orchestral music, the public performance played an important role in helping Aurora to build new family audiences at Kings Place: 75% of audience members who responded to a survey were attending an Aurora children’s show for the first time.

Oxford Lieder - (Oxford International Song Festival’s Young Artist Programme in 2024)

The Radcliffe Trust awarded Oxford Lieder a grant to support their an annual 12-month, world-class professional development programme for up to 8 early-career pianist/singer duos, combining professional mentoring with performance, curatorial and pedagogic opportunities that showcases and nurtures the UK’s finest young and emerging artists.

The Young Artists are all now benefiting from a suite of professional development opportunities which will run until October 2025, aiming to take their careers to the next level. The Radcliffe Trust Grant specifically went towards:-

1) Performances by The Young Artists at the Oxford International Festival 2024
Oxford Lieders’ 23rd Festival programme ran from 11-26 October and was one of their most ambitious and successful to date, attracting an audience attendance of c.9,700 from across the UK and internationally. As part of the Festival programme, each duo was invited to give a 15-minute performance to begin headline evening recitals throughout the first week – their “Emerging Artist” recitals – enabling them to gain public and critical profile. Ahead of their performances at this year’s Oxford International Song Festival, all the Young Artists got together in September for an informal programming workshop and masterclass with Artistic Director Sholto Kynoch.

2) The Young Artists’ participation in the Oxford Lieder Mastercourse
Each duo also received a fully-funded place on our residential Mastercourse which ran through the Festival’s second week, providing our duos with a series of masterclasses led by pianist Anne le Bozec and guest tutors Christian Immler, Stéphane Degout and Joan Rodgers, as well as attending Festival events. The week culminated in the Young Artists all performing at a showcase concert on 26 October in the Holywell Music Room, Oxford, which attracted an appreciative public audience.

Oxford Lieder Say:-

As a major funder of the programme, The Radcliffe Trust’s grant has made a significant difference to the Programme’s success and delivery, and the sixteen artists who have participated.

Oxford International Song Festival relies on the support of individuals, companies and trusts such as The Radcliffe Trust – without it, we would be forced to scale down the ambition and length of our Young Artist Programme. It remains vital that young artists receive high-profile concert platform engagements and experience, so by supporting their performances and our Mastercourse at this year’s main festival, The Radcliffe Trust’s grant has had a significant impact on those participating.

Our Young Artist Programme is also unique in its focus on classical song (as distinct from opera) which generally becomes marginalised in many early careers because the opera world provides far more professional opportunities for young singers (even though song recitals are a medium that many singers find artistically and personally enriching). In the long run, this means that audiences are less well-served by excellent classical song recitals. In this context, our Young Artist Programme is therefore extremely important, and your support is therefore having a positive impact on both the performance of song and the arts sector as a whole.

Cathedral Church of St. Peter in Exeter

Exeter Cathedral was founded in 1050, and is a magnificent building, steeped in history. The present cathedral was built between 1114 and 1258 and is one of the best and most complete surviving examples of the English Decorative style of architecture left. A place of spirituality, learning and outreach, it is seen as an essential community hub, as well as offering amazing opportunities for talented young people in heritage craft skills. There is a team of six heritage stone masons. All benefit from gaining ongoing experience, training and learning opportunities whenever possible.

Thanks to a grant from the Radcliffe Trust, Exeter Cathedral was able to arrange for members of the stonemasonry team to undertake a four day Portrait Clay Modelling class delivered by leading artist and sculptor Andrian Melka. The first three days the masons were tasked with producing a clay portrait of cathedral Archaeologist John Allen. The last day the team were taught the methodology of producing plaster casts of the clay models.

The masons have delivered carved detail on projects previously. This course really helped the masons to learn replica and figurative carving of the human face and features for future works. A complete change to the more usual grotesques and foliage.

The Cathedral is very grateful for the Radcliffe Trust as the grant represents an investment in the individual masons expanding their skills and knowledge as they work for the benefit, care and maintenance of Exeter Cathedral’s medieval stonework in the near future.