At the start of lockdown we had to postpone to 2021 the St John Passion, the Farnham Sinfonia concert and the Solem Quartet’s concert. We paid out 50% of the agreed fees to the musicians at this time and will pay a further 75% when the concerts are performed. In the case of the St John Passion, thanks to the generosity of Prince Donatus, we paid out 75% and will pay a further 75% when it is performed.

During 2020 TBS since the lockdown started has run 3 online concerts, 6 open air concerts, the four concert Farnham Chamber Music Festival and one further concert. Over £13,000 has ben paid out by November 2020.

Conservatoire Concerts has run 13 online concerts and two concerts in churches, mostly with students, paying over £5,000 in fees.

The aim of these concerts during 2020 was not only to provide live music for the audience but to provide paid work for musicians who have suffered very badly from loss of work. All these concerts have been funded by donations from our most generous audience and  supporters. We agreed and paid modest fees to professional musicians and undertook to pay out all money received to musicians. As 2020 nears its end we have made additional payments to professional musicians to honour this commitment with payments being averaged out across concerts in a fair way.

The following are some of the thank yous that we have received and would like to share with our generous sponsors:

Thank you so much.  The work that you and all at TBS have been doing for musicians during these difficult and uncertain times has been a great help, both emotionally and with thanks to the generosity of the audiences, also financially. We can but hope that 2021 will allow us to perform again in person.

I am moved by the gesture of TBS to offer the extra donations from the audience.  I’m very keen to thank them…how is this possible do you think? Thanks so much for thinking of this. TBS is outstanding in its ongoing support of musicians and we are extremely grateful.

Can’t begin to tell you how grateful I am for this. It means SO much as we’ve all been through such hardship for those past weeks. Please pass on my deepest thanks to all the donators, this was so unexpected yet so welcome. Hope to come back for another concert soon.

Thank you for your email. It is so generous of your audience, and greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much! We are immensely grateful for your support and hopefully we’ll see you, and play for you again, soon.

Wow, that’s so generous of you and the TBS audience! Thank you so much!

What a lovely surprise and that’s extremely generous. I think it’s amazing what TBS have done for musicians during these difficult times. I am extremely grateful both as a performer and listener as I’m sure others are too.  big thank you and many best wishes,
Thank you so much for this lovely news! It’s wonderful to hear that your audience has been so generous, and for me it’s extremely welcome after the cancellation of a concert in Denmark due to the outbreak of covid on a mink farm!
Thank you so much, that’s really incredibly nice of you!

Oh that’s so lovely. Thank you!

Wow! I wasn’t expecting that. Thank you so much for these top up payments. It was such a pleasure to play the chamber concerts over the summer, and the TBS audience have been wonderfully generous, positive and supportive. I’ve really enjoyed conversations with audience before and after concerts, getting to know our local musical community even better. It’s such a lovely feeling to be part of something so valuable in these current difficult times.

That’s wonderful news and congratulations for such an incredible response from the audience and great success.  Thank you so much.

Thank you for all you have been doing at TBS to keep professional musicians going during this time. It’s making a material difference!