Dear Supporters of Friends of Orchestral Music
It has been a joy to return to normality in 2022 and, in particular, to be able to enjoy live CPO concerts in the City Hall again and our seventh FOM CPO Benefit Gala Concert in the Artscape Opera House – which included a champagne and canape celebration of our collaboration in the interval.
The volunteer FOM Committee and you, our members have helped to raise R2.679 million from 2017 to date. This total includes funds raised and CPO rehearsal tickets sold. This fantastic team effort has enabled us to fund our aims as follows:
- Orchestral Development Portfolio – R974 000
- Individual Study Portfolio – R413 000
- Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra – R1172 000
- Instrument Donation and Restoration – R30 000
- Build future audiences and awareness of classical music – R90 000
FOM memberships nearly doubled in 2022! This has played a vital role in our being able to assist our educational portfolios to continue through the year with data for their online lessons and bursary awards to assist worthy disadvantaged students who otherwise would not have been able to study. We were able to contribute towards the programmes of the Beau Soleil and Hugo Lambrechts Music Centres, the South African National Youth Orchestra and the youth projects of the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra. We were also able to support the South African Strings Symposium with bursaries for students to attend. The Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival was able to use our previous donation to them to present their 2022 Festival and the Franschhoek Chamber Music Workshop were able to hold smaller courses with our funding held over from 2020 and are now planning to hold a full residential course in 2023.
Through additional fundraising we were also able to donate directly to the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra and Fine Music Radio – now the only full-time classical music radio station in the country.
We need your help to give more to these projects in 2023 – so please consider adding a donation to your membership fee – you’ll be investing in the future of classical music in our city.
2023 membership renewals are open. Membership entitles you to:
- Regular newsletters highlighting concerts and programmes emailed to you and accessible on the FOM website
- Priority booking for CPO subscribers for all symphony concerts including the FOM Benefit Gala Concert
- Priority booking and discounted tickets for our special events including elegant fundraising soirées at exclusive venues, youth development concerts, our annual quiz evening and talks
- Priority booking for the Cape Town Concert Series recitals
- Presentation of your FOM membership card gets you a complimentary glass of wine, beer, or soft drink after every CPO symphony concert plus the opportunity to meet the CPO conductor, soloist and musicians at the symphony concerts
In order to sustain the benefits we offer our members we need to increase our membership fee to R300 per member for 2023 (R150 for students).
Membership form and details are under the ‘Join/Renew’ button and include our banking details. If you have any queries, please email us at info@fomct.com.
To make payments easier, we have established a new Debit Order option to help us meet our education and music appreciation fund-raising targets. We also can accept payments via Snapscan through the QR code and credit card. Contact info@fomct.com for more information.
We look forward to seeing you at the 2023 CPO concerts and our 2023 soirees. Thank you for helping to build the future of music in Cape Town.
Roderick Stevens
Chairman – Friends of Orchestral Music