2025 in review

This year marks the 90th year of Making Music, but it’s also been a very busy one for us and you all. So, we’re taking a moment to reflect back on far and recent events as we move into our membership renewals period and the start of the new year.

Our anniversary gave us an opportunity to celebrate the importance and value of the association, its purpose and its changing membership since 1935. As well as a fascinating presentation by one of our founding members Ayr Choral at our AGM, we’ve been meeting other members with long histories in a series of articles representing the rich heritage of leisure-time music groups in this country. In the Autumn, we partnered with Sony Pictures to promote The Choral, a film written by Alan Bennet about a fictional choral society in WW1, whose story closely mirrors that of our members in that difficult period and the vital role music groups have played in their communities.

We’ve also celebrated newer groups, with the many joining us this year representing how varied music making is, including The European Doctor’s Orchestra, Taynuilt Community Choir from the Scottish Highlands, and the Stompin on the Quomps Jazz Festival on the south coast. Members told us about their great achievements, from The Pink Singers going on tour with Coldplay, Bournemouth Symphony Chorus traveling to Hiroshima to mark the 80th anniversary of the devastating bombing with a performance of Britten’s War Requiem, to Streetwise Opera winning a Royal Philarmonic Society Impact Award.

Our 2025 Awards shone a light on the musical and organisational achievements of members, and included two new awards, one for Diverse Programming, won by Bradford Festival Choral Society and one for Best Photo, taken by a passing fan of South Berks Concert Band. And in April our groups were honoured at Windsor Castle, at a reception celebrating community music making attended by His Majesty The King, where the London Gay Men’s Chorus sang as guests arrived. 

Members have put great energy in to Making Music projects too, and this year saw the culmination of our INCLUDE project, where four member groups worked with a project manager (advised by a panel of experts) on taking action to widen the diversity of their memberships. The resulting resources are available for any groups looking to include more people, thanks to the creative thinking and trials these members undertook. The Adopt a Music Creator projects are reaching their conclusion this month, with four groups premiering brand new works by their adopted composers, from Linlithgow to Southend. And Wales saw its biggest ever Make Music Day celebrations, with 16 member groups taking part in events in seven towns across the country.

By far the biggest piece of work our staff have undertaken this year has been the launch of the new website. It’s been a long time in development, and our many thanks go to all the team members who have worked so hard on it. We think it’s brilliant, and we hope all members take some time to log on and browse all the resources and services that are there for you to find. When you come to renew your membership, we hope you notice the simpler interaction, as a lot of work has gone into the admin back end to make your journey through the site smoother. See our guide on navigating the new site.

We’re also delighted that this year saw the biggest sum yet of Orchestra Tax Relief that we have helped our members to claim; over 90 groups have together claimed approx. £2m over 7 years, leading to an average 50% increase in their production budgets. This year we’ve been campaigning for this relief to be extended to choirs, but we also know there are still member groups who could currently claim who are not – so why not make looking into it your New Year resolution!

Finally, we were very sad to say goodbye to our Royal Patron, Katharine, Duchess of Kent who died in September. A musician and music teacher herself, she was a passionate advocate for leisure-time music groups, as remembered in this article by Russell Jones, our Chief Executive from1987-1997. In this year of reflection, we are grateful for all her work, and all the work of hundreds of thousands of others who keep leisure time music so vibrantly alive in 2025.