Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra launch into new season

They take the stage on Wednesday, October 23 at 7.30pm​​​​ when the programme will be Verdi – Overture: La forza del destino​​; Grieg – Piano Concerto in A minor; and Brahms – Symphony No 4 in E minor. Shunta Morimoto will be soloist. Shunta was the 2022 winner of the Hastings International Piano Competition. He made his London debut in 2023 performing with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Cadogan Hall.

For Marcio, it’s all part of a remarkable transformation for the orchestra since the pandemic and part of his mission to get more and more people into classical music concerts.

“It has been really interesting for us because the pandemic really helped us,” he says. “It gave us time to rethink how we do things and to find different approaches. Before the pandemic we were in a charity with the Hastings Philharmonic Choir and they felt that they could no longer support us and that pushed us to become a charity on our own. We started with zero money but it really helped us to start the whole thing going and in getting a start looking for grants. So really the pandemic transformed the orchestra. For us it served as a beginning. We existed since 2016 but because of the pandemic we got our independence – not that we really wanted it! But it just worked out that way. We've had our problems since then. Last year for the first time we didn't get Arts Council but we've had to adapt. Last year we were mainly funded by our audience and by some grants and that was a big thing because when you are funded by a large number of people, you are less reliant on one big organisation which is actually quite healthy. We've got to the point where if we lose one or two funding sources then we should be able to find things elsewhere – though it does make it harder for us to grow without a big cash influx.

“But we started something really important which is for every concert that we do now – apart from the concerts at the White Rock – we have a pay what you can scheme for tickets. Through my experience and seeing the audiences that we have got in Hastings it feels to me that most of the time people are not coming to classical concerts not because they haven't got the money. It's more a question of they don't have the culture. They don't have the tradition of going to classical concerts. These concerts feel for them quite daunting. They don't feel that they would feel comfortable or that they would know how to act or how to dress. I think what we need to do is really push people through the doors so that more and more people have that experience of coming and they can see what it's all about and they become more comfortable and more confident about it all. And OK you might not like one piece but you will start to realise that you will like something in the next concert. You don't stop going to the cinema just because you've seen a film that you don't like.”

Marcio accepts that this is a long-term project, that things won't just change overnight and also that even the concept of pay what you can will take some getting used to: “But we are trying to change the culture. We have a free of charge children's choir that we started in the pandemic and today for the first time we've got more than 30 children in the choir which is very exciting but the great thing is that the parents of the children come along and experience classical music and they stay for other pieces. We just want them to start treating classical concerts as part of their normal life. It is about showing people how fantastic classical concerts can be and just how much they can get out of them.”