The Exuberant Trust

more Exuberant Trust concerts.

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associated concerts and events

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Help save Summertown's

arts hub at the URC!

The Summertown United Reformed Church building has been the home for a wide range of community, arts and educational activities in Oxford for over a century, but is now being sold. The Summertown Arts Community (registered charity) is campaigning urgently to raise the last tranche of funds to buy this URC building, and maintain it as an affordable base for artistic and creative activity in the surrounding community. For more information or to support SAC in this important venture ... read more here.

2003 - 2024

Celebrating 21 years of supporting

young people in Oxfordshire with

their development in the creative

arts since 2003.

The Exuberant Trust was first registered as a charity in 2003. During the last 21 years, the Exuberant Trust has awarded a total of £75,000 in the form of 170 individual grants to young, creative artists in Oxfordshire ... Read more here.

Award Winners News

The latest news, updates and events listings for Exuberant Trust grant award-winners.

Find out more about the Multi Story Orchestra here, including the latest news and upcoming events.

The Multi Story Orchestra was started in 2011 by composer Kate Whitley (former Exuberant Trust award winner) and conductor Christopher Stark, who wanted to find new ways to play orchestral music that would escape formal concert halls and be more exciting.

The Orchestra started playing in Bold Tendencies in Peckham and broadcast the first ever BBC Proms performance from a car park in 2016, followed by performances in other car parks around the UK.

Their performances bring together amassed choirs and instrumentalists to give incredibly moving, musical experiences that celebrate the local community. They also work with local schools to encourage creativity for all.

BBC Young Musician 2020

Ewan Millar wins the woodwind finals.

18-year-old oboist Ewan Millar, from Reading, has won the woodwind category final of the BBC Young Musician 2020 competition. Ewan will now go on to the semi-final with the other category winners to compete for a place in the grand final later this year.

Congratulations to Ewan and we wish him good luck in the next stage of the competition.

BBC Young Musician 2020 links:

Ewan Millar - profile.

Ewan Millar - woodwind finals performance.

Woodwind Finals highlights.

Emily Stapleton Jefferis

Ceramics Artist - Update

Read an update from former Exuberant Trust award-winner and artist, Emily Stapleton-Jefferis who is studying an MA in Ceramics and Glass at the Royal College of Art, London.

Award-winners Fiona McAlear and Rachel Wood are both jewellers/silversmiths.

Contemporary Jewellery & Hair Accesories

Read about Fiona's latest jewellery collections and news here.

Rachel specialises in handmade bespoke pieces for all sporting and country enthusiasts. Read more about her new collections and news here.

2003 - 2013

Officially formed as a charity in April 2003, The Exuberant Trust celebrated it's 10th Anniversary in 2013, culminating in the Showcase Exuberant Oxford! in September 2013 at the Pegasus Theatre, Oxford. Read More ...

Please join this campain for broadening the curriculum:

Arts and technology subjects are in serious decline in English secondary schools. School accountability measures have devalued arts and technology subjects in our secondary schools - the English Baccalaureate (EBacc)excludes all arts subjects and Progress 8 heavily weights league tables towards EBacc subjects ... Read more and sign.

The Exuberant Trust is a local charity which supports young people with a strong connection to Oxfordshire, who are developing their interest in the arts: music, drama, dance, art & crafts, multi-media, etc. and who are in need of a small one-off grant (maximum £500) for a specific project or activity.

The Exuberant Trust raises funds by organising concerts throughout the year and from donations received from its supporters. Successful applicants are encouraged to take part in concerts and other activities in support of the Trust.

Next Concert:

Exuberant Music in Summertown

6pm, Sunday 17th August

Pavlova Wind Quintet

Peter Robertson flute

Wendy Marks oboe

Barbara Stuart clarinet

Jenny Morgan horn

Simon Payne bassoon

Come and enjoy music for a summer evening performed

by this Oxfordshire ensemble in aid of the Exuberant Trust.

The programme will include the much-loved overture

to Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro.

Concert Flyer

Biographies

United Reformed Church

294 Banbury Road, Summertown, Oxford OX2 7ED

(opposite South Parade)

Music at The Limes concerts are free and informal - just walk in!

The performance will last for one hour.

We welcome Donations to the Exuberant Trust awards programme.

You can donate to the Trust securely online (via NowDonate) or on the day,

adding Gift Aid if possible. Registered Charity no. 1095911

The Exuberant Trust charity supports creative young people in Oxfordshire. Our small grants are awarded for individual projects in any of the arts. Applications from people under 30 years of age who have a

strong link to Oxfordshire are always welcome.

The Exuberant Trust - Registered Charity No. 1095911

Upcoming Concerts

Sunday 14th September

The Limes, Standlake

~ Piano Trio ~

Sarah Verney, Stephen Drew and Alison Cooke

Sunday 5th October

The Limes, Standlake

~ Sacred Music ~

William Knight and John Collis

Sunday 12th October

The Limes, Standlake

~ Soprano & alto singers

with violin, cello and piano ~

Lesley Morris, Yuliya and Ben Rothman, David Brown and Amanda Bennett

Further details to follow.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

We would like to thank all of the kind and generous people who have

supported us over the years: the concert artists who have entertained and delighted our audiences without a fee and to all those who have attended our fundraising concerts or donated to the Exuberant Trust.

All donations received directly fund our small grants programme,

which exists to support young people (under 30 years) in Oxfordshire with

individual projects, related to any of the arts. All of our Trustees and

other helpers work on a voluntary basis, so that all of our funds are

available for grants (less any minimal expenses).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Please help the Exuberant Trust continue to support young people in Oxfordshire with their development in the creative arts, by making a donation to our grant-award fund.

You can donate securely online, via our Donation page at NowDonate. Alternatively find out how you can donate to the Exuberant Trust

in other ways by clicking the link below.

Other Ways To Donate > >

THANK YOU!

Indigo Road	Past Concerts 2025 6pm, Sunday 11th April Indigo Road entertained our audience in Standlake at The Limes with a wonderful programme of songs. Indigo Road is a small but perfectly formed local ‘a capella’ group combining modern grooves and musical verve, arranging pop and folk songs from around the world.
TÊTE à TÊTE	6pm, Sunday 27th April Back at The Limes in Standlake, Diana Hinds, piano and Coral Lancaster, cello play a French themed programme in the garden Pavilion, including sonatas by Debussy and Fauré and Poulenc’s Mélancolie.
Catriona Bourne Lucinda Bourne	7pm, Sunday 23rd March Inward Places of the Soul at the United Reformed Church, Summertown, will be a spellbinding performance of music for Baroque Flute and Bass Viol by Catriona Bourne and Lucinda Bourne. The talented duo who are sisters will play music by Telemann, Quantz, Hotteterre and some traditional Scottish airs. Catriona Bourne is an Exuberant Trust award winner
Trinity A Cappella Choir	Past Concerts 2024 6pm, Sunday 24th November Trinity A Cappella choir from Oxford Brookes University transform Pop music hits with intricate harmonies and vibrant energy. From chart-topping anthems to nostalgic favourites, Trinity A Cappella choir brings creativity and heart to each performance. With arrangements of songs from Coldplay, Elvis Presley, Billy Joel and many others.
'Strings Attached'	3.30pm, Sunday 3rd November The Strings Attached duo are Eric Clarke (violin, viola) and Sarah Verney (piano). They performed a delightful programme of music with sonatas by Mozart, JS Bach and Rebecca Clarke's Four pieces for viola and piano.
'Humans, nature and human nature' Camilla Seale	4.30pm, Sunday 20th October Camilla Seale, mezzo-soprano and Alex Norton perform Humans, nature and human nature, a song recital with music by Poulenc, Ravel, Schumann, Clarke, Debussy & Delibes Camilla Seale graduated with Distinction from the Royal Northern College of Music. Her voice has been described as a ‘velvety mezzo’, and she has won a string of awards. Her operatic debut was at Buxton International Festival, followed by a season in the chorus at Glyndebourne. In 2023-4 she was a Young Artist on the Global Talent Programme at the National Opera Studio, with support from the Exuberant Trust and the David Willcocks Music Trust. www.camillaseale.com
Victoria de Melo	3pm, Sunday 7th July Piano recital by Victoria de Melo. Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor Op. 31 No. 2, Chopin Ballade No. 3, Schumann and Liszt. Now 15 years old, Victoria gained her Licentiate of Royal School of Music in 2021, having studied in the Junior Departments of both Guildhall and Royal College of Music. This year she has already played in the Sheldonian Theatre and in the Holywell Music Room. Victoria has been to masterclasses with Dmitri Alexeev in Austria and Stephen Kovacevich in Cambridge and she is currently studying under Jianing Kong.

Commedia

David Horn in Commedia,

photographed by Bill Cooper.

Read about the Commedia Project, which was commissioned by the Exuberant Trust and funded entirely

by donations specifically for this purpose, in memory of Sebastian Graham-Jones.

Sebastian had been working on the idea at the time of his death in 2004, for a choreographed work using characters and images from fantasy paintings by Claude Harrison, with their allusions to the Commedia dell'Arte, to be set to Robin Holloway's haunting, quizzical Serenade in C (1979).

The project was finally realised in 2011 with the Commedia Ballet, developed and choreographed by Susie Crow, Ballet in Small Spaces, with costume and set-design by Ellen Nabarro (née Stewart).