With only 24% of British adults saying they have local access to live orchestral music – and less than one in five having access to schools that offer music education for their children – the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) today announces a new 2025/6 season of concerts outside London. The new season will see the Orchestra perform 24 concerts across 10 towns and cities – including Hull, Northampton, Crawley, Reading, Bristol, Gateshead, Nottingham, Warwick, Guildford, and Aylesbury,
As part of its mission to give the broadest possible audience access to the thrill and excitement of live orchestral concerts, the RPO’s commitment to supporting UK concert halls comes at a time when the impact of venue closures is beginning to take its toll.
After a year when 125 performance spaces were permanently closed – and the Music Venue Trust reporting that 38% of remaining venues posted financial losses – new RPO research reveals that (outside London) many people say they have poor levels of local access to live music and arts centres.
The new RPO survey of a nationally representative sample of 2,019 adults revealed that:
· 24% of adults say they have limited or poor access to venues locally. For these people, the nearest music venues are more than 30 miles away from where they live – or concert-going involves them having to make a trip to a different county.
· Whilst 74% of Londoners cite good access to local music venues, their situation is unrepresentative of UK at large – where only 16% of people say they have access to a music venue within five miles of their home – and only 34% within 15 miles. Wales (34%) the East Midlands (32%) and the South West (31%) emerge as the regions where people are most likely to say music venue access was limited or poor, with their nearest music venue more than 30 miles away from where they live.
· Across the UK, the RPO data suggests that public libraries (53%) and music venues (47%) now play the pivotal role in giving people access to cultural enrichment on their doorsteps – being the cultural hubs that people can most likely reach within 30-minutes travel from where they live. Set against this, only 40% of people say they have local access to a music shop, just 30% to an arts centre and a mere 18% have local access to a music teacher, for them or their children.
· In terms of music discovery, only around one in four people say they have the opportunity to experience orchestral concerts locally (24%) or have a nearby music festival (26%) – and less than one in five say they have local access to a school that offers music education (19%).
· The research also makes clear that local access to the arts is greatly valued. Nationally, 88% of adults say that closure of artistic outlets locally would have a serious, detrimental impact to community life. The facilities people most feared closing locally were libraries (46%), music venues (37%), museums (35%), music shops (29%) and galleries (27%).
Sarah Bardwell, Managing Director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra comments: “The RPO is often described as being ‘the Nation’s orchestra’ and it has always been proud of its national presence, often performing in areas of the country that have been historically underserved by great orchestral music. Our new research puts into sharp context how serious the position is outside the Capital – in terms of local access to the arts. We are delighted to be building strong partnerships with 10 fantastic venues in towns and cities around the country and to be giving more people local access to our performances. Together with the community-based education work of our RPO Resound programme, our new full season of concerts represents a major investment by the RPO into the cultural enrichment of communities where we perform.”
Cllr Adele Barnett-Ward, Reading’s Lead Councillor for Leisure and Culture said: “The RPO’s performances across 10 towns and cities as far afield as Hull, Nottingham and Reading sets an example for others to follow. We support the RPO’s efforts to broaden the orchestral audience and we thank them for allowing us to offer our audience at The Hexagon exciting performances that make live music something well worth going out for.”
Louise Street, Theatre Operations Manager at The Hawth, Crawley says: “Our partnership with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra has allowed us to offer our audience the best in orchestral . The RPO’s research highlights the challenges that music venues face across the UK, but also the importance that people attach to arts provision in their local community – and how it enriches social, economic and cultural life more broadly. We look forward to welcoming the RPO back to Crawley during their 2025/6 season.”
For a full list of concert dates, visit: https://www.rpo.co.uk/whats-on/concerts-outside-london