Music Masters (formerly London Music Masters/LMM) is a UK-based music education charity which works with schools, teachers and arts organisations with the aim of making music accessible to all. Founded in 2007, Music Masters provides teaching, mentoring, financial support and performance opportunities to musicians between the ages of 4 and 25. Its flagship music education programme, the Schools Programme, raises the aspirations and nurtures the potential of disadvantaged primary school children across London. Music Masters' creative partners include the London venues

Southbank Centre Southbank Centre is an arts centre in London, England. It is adjacent to the separately owned National Theatre and BFI Southbank. It comprises the three main performance spaces – the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and Purcell R ...

and

Wigmore Hall The Wigmore Hall is a concert hall at 36 Wigmore Street, in west London. It was designed by Thomas Edward Collcutt and opened in 1901 as the Bechstein Hall; it is considered to have particularly good building acoustics, acoustics. It specialis ...

, the

London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is a British orchestra based in London. One of five permanent symphony orchestras in London, the LPO was founded by the conductors Thomas Beecham, Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a riv ...

and the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

as well as

London Contemporary Orchestra The London Contemporary Orchestra (LCO), founded in 2008 by Hugh Brunt and Robert Ames, is an ensemble of young musicians whose stated aim is "to explore and promote new music to an increasingly wide audience". LCO staged its inaugural season ...

and the Young Classical Artist Trust (YCAT). It also partners periodically with the US-based

Sphinx Organization The Sphinx Organization is a non-profit organization dedicated to the development of young Black and Latino classical musicians. Based in Detroit, Michigan, it was founded by the American violinist Aaron Dworkin. The Sphinx was chosen to repres ...

, a similar non-profit arts and youth development organisation. Internationally renowned musicians such as

Nicola Benedetti Nicola Joy Nadia Benedetti (born 20 July 1987) is a Scottish classical solo violinist and festival director. Her ability was recognised when she was a child, including the award of BBC Young Musician of the Year when she was 16. She works wi ...

Colin Currie Colin David Currie is a multi award-winning Scottish people, Scottish virtuoso percussionist. He is the founder and leader of the Colin Currie Group, an ensemble specializing in performing and recording the music of Steve Reich. Biography Ear ...

Sheku Kanneh-Mason Sheku Kanneh-Mason (born 4 April 1999) is a British cellist who won the 2016 BBC Young Musician award. He was the first black musician to win the competition since its launch in 1978. He played at the wedding of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle ...

, Harlem Quartet,

Randall Goosby Randall Goosby (born July 6, 1996) is an American concert violinist. He is the recipient of the 2022 Avery Fisher Career Grant and was the first prize winner of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in 2018. Biography Born in San ...

, Daniel Kidane, Benjamin Baker, Tom Poster, Elena Urioste,

Benjamin Grosvenor Benjamin Grosvenor (born 8 July 1992) is a British classical pianist. Education Grosvenor was born and brought up in Westcliff-on-Sea, Southend-on-Sea, Essex. He is the youngest of five brothers. His father is an English and Drama teacher, a ...

, Nadine Benjamin,

Anthony Marwood Anthony Marwood (born 6 July 1965) is a British solo violinist. Early life He was born 6 July 1965 to Michael Travers Marwood and Anne née Chevallier. He attended King Edward VI Grammar School in Chelmsford. He then studied at the Royal Aca ...

Tai Murray Tai Murray (born ) is an American violinist. According to Murray, she became interested in the violin when her parents "put a pencil case with a toy violin in my hand when I was five". Born in Chicago, Illinois, Murray made her concert debut with ...

support this charity's work as Ambassadors. During the last year of his life American composer

Elliott Carter Elliott Cook Carter Jr. (December 11, 1908 – November 5, 2012) was an American modernist composer who was one of the most respected composers of the second half of the 20th century. He combined elements of European modernism and American " ...

was also an Ambassador. Other recognised musicians, such as violinists

Maxim Vengerov Maxim Alexandrovich Vengerov (; born 20 August 1974) is a Soviet-born Israeli violinist, violist, and conductor. Classic FM has called him "one of the greatest violinists in the world". Vengerov was born in Novosibirsk, the only child of Al ...

Midori Gotō , who performs under the mononym Midori, is a Japanese-born American violinist. She made her debut with the New York Philharmonic at age 11 as a surprise guest soloist at the New Year's Eve Gala in 1982. In 1986 her performance at the Tanglewood ...

, Isata Kanneh-Mason and Plinio Fernandes have collaborated with Music Masters in specific projects.

History

Music Masters was founded in 2007 by Victoria Robey and Professor Itzhak Rashkovsky with the dual aim of introducing classical music to primary school children from financially disadvantaged and diverse backgrounds and supporting some of the best of the next generation of young professional musicians. The organisation has worked with over 2000 children in inner city schools and helped develop the careers of the finest young musicians of their generation. Music Masters aims to invest in future generations in order to help them reach their full potential as both musicians and contributors to society.

Governance

Chair

Victoria Robey 2007–2010, Julian Simmonds 2010–2012, Simon Freakley 2012–current.

Chief Executive/Executive Director

Roz De Vile 2020-Present, Robert Adediran 2013–2020, Victoria Robey CBE HonRCM 2009–2013, Mary Deissler 2008–2009.

Current Trustees

Simon Freakley (Chairman), Sarah Bunting, Dr Steven Berryman, Mo Carrington, Talia Hull, James Joseph, Dr Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason, Rebekah Kofo-Kasumu, Philip Keller, Stuart Mason, John Nickson, Victoria Robey CBE HonRCM, Alicia Swannell and

Philippa Thomas Philippa Thomas (born 22 November 1965) is a former television newsreader and journalist, both domestic and foreign. At the BBC she was a chief news presenter at BBC World News, presenting evening bulletins on BBC News Channel and BBC World N ...

Former Trustees

John Antoniazzi, Shaun Bailey, Nicholas Berwin, Mo Carrington, Sir

Vernon Ellis Sir Vernon James Ellis (born 1 July 1947) was the chair of the British Council from 2010 to 2016. Education Ellis was educated at Magdalen College School, before going to Magdalen College, Oxford, to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics ( ...

, John Gilhooly, Professor Colin Lawson, Professor

Itzhak Rashkovsky Itzhak Rashkovsky (; born 1955) is a Ukrainian-Israeli violinist and pedagogue who obtained master's degree from the Israeli Academy of Music where he was under guidance from Yair Kless. He is a music director and one of the founders of the Keshet ...

(artistic director), Richard Sharp, Julian Simmonds, Dennis, Lord Stevenson of Coddenham CBE, Ed Vaizey MP and Timothy Walker. You can find out more about the Advisory Council and the Development Committee on th
Music Masters website

Current initiatives

Music Masters currently operates the following programmes:

Schools Programme

The Schools Programme (previously LMM Learning) is a community development programme that targets socio-economically disadvantaged areas in order to increase the ethnic, cultural and socio-economic diversity within the classical music industry. The project currently operates in a small number of primary schools across three London boroughs (Lambeth, Westminster and Islington) providing free musicianship, violin and cello lessons for children aged 4+. The Schools Programme was one of the three finalists for the "Everyday Impact Award – New Enterprises" category of the 2012 Social Change Awards organised by the Directory of Social Change. In 2015 Music Masters was awarded the Excellence in Early Years and Primary Music Award] in the third annual Music Teacher Awards at a ceremony held in London.

I'm In – The Inclusive Music Index

Music Masters has developed a diversity and inclusion audit tool for organisations in the music sector, which provides an analysis of behaviours and attitudes across the whole organisation, looking at organisational drivers, culture, leadership and accountability, procurement, recruitment, talent management, marketing, the audience and customer experience. The tool, called I'M IN, was developed together with global consulting firm

AlixPartners AlixPartners is a financial advisory and global consulting firm.Merx, Katie. "Thinking Big Thoughts." ''Crain's Detroit Business'' 19.36 (2003): 18. ''Regional Business News.'' Web. 29 May 2013. Jay Alix founded what became AlixPartners LLP in 1 ...

,"Championing diversity and inclusion in music"
London Music Masters.

Musicians of Change (PGCEi)

Musicians of Change (PGCEi) is a one year teaching course, jointly led by Music Masters and Birmingham City University. The course is designed to equip teachers with the essential and practical skills needed for the demands of group instrument teaching.

LMM Awards (2009–2017)

LMM Awards

The LMM Awards supported exceptional violinists in entering the professional classical music industry. Music Masters provided financial support, career guidance and performance opportunities including a Wigmore Hall recital and a concerto with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Music Masters also regularly commissioned new works of music to be premièred by the Award Holders.

2009–2012

The first LMM Awards were granted from 2009 to 2012 to

Jennifer Pike Jennifer Elizabeth Pike (born 9 November 1989) is a British violinist. Early years and education Pike began playing the violin at the age of five, and after auditioning at the age of eight she gained a place at Chetham's School of Music in Ma ...

(UK),

Agata Szymczewska Agata Szymczewska (born 1985 in Gdańsk) is a Polish violinist and alumna of the Academy of Music in Poznań and the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover, where she studied under professors Bartosz Bryła and Krzysztof Węgrzyn, resp ...

(Poland) and Elena Urioste (USA).

2012–2015

Violinists Benjamin Beilman (USA), Hyeyoon Park (South Korea), Alexandra Soumm (Russia/France) were all LMM Award Holders from 2012 to 2015.

2016–2017

Violinist Marc Bouchkov (France) and composers Jack White (UK) and Shiva Feshareki (UK) were all LMM award holders from 2016 to 2017.Katy Wrigh
"London Music Masters announces new awards"
Rhinegold Publishing, 10 May 2016.

References

{{Reflist, 30em

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...

'', 21 June 2010 Charities based in London Community-building organizations Arts organizations established in 2007 2007 establishments in England