Communications
In 2024-25, Manchester Camerata’s voice reached further and resonated with more people than ever before. This has been a period of creative communications, brand visibility, and record-breaking engagement. Our work in 2024-25 demonstrated that our message of accessibility and excellence is connecting powerfully with audiences far and near.
June 2024 saw the launch of our first Support Your Local Orchestra beer, created in collaboration with Manchester craft brewers, Cloudwater. Stocked in more than 200 pubs, bars, and shops, each can displayed images of the orchestra in performance, alongside stories of our community impact and the work orchestras do across the UK. The beer sparked a national conversation online, including more than 500 check-ins & comments on the beer reviewing social platform, Untappd, raising both profile and donations.
September brought further expansion into merchandise. We marked the culmination of the acclaimed Mozart, Made in Manchester series with bespoke baseball caps worn proudly by Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Gábor Takács-Nagy, and the orchestra on-stage at a sold-out Stoller Hall concert. This subtle subversion of traditional concert attire is just one of the many ways our comms team is presenting the orchestra in a fresh and innovative way, whilst breaking down the barriers perceived for our artform. This concert was also broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.
In October, we launched our boldest audience campaign to date. Our £10 Under 30s poster and digital series flooded Greater Manchester with striking visuals and contemporary slogans such as “Centuries of Clout,” “Hits Different,” and “Orchestra and Chill”. The campaign, supported by a playful behind-the-scenes film of the Camerata marketing team ‘flyposting’ iconic city locations, led to a 70% increase in uptake of the under-30s ticket offer, firmly establishing Camerata as one of the UK’s most audience-savvy orchestras.
The same month, we became Classic FM’s only partner organisation in Greater Manchester – a major milestone that cemented our reputation for both excellence and accessibility. As Philip Noyce, Classic FM’s Managing Editor, commented:
“Manchester Camerata is blazing a trail in classical music. Their captivating live concerts and impactful community work make classical music relevant to everyone, regardless of age or background.”
Camerata’s national and international profile continued to rise through broadcast and digital media. We performed live with Pet Shop Boys at the MTV European Music Awards, reaching an estimated 300 million viewers worldwide, and appeared on Strictly Come Dancing. A performance with Imran Perretta drew praise from international contemporary arts magazine Frieze, which described it as “hypnotic,” while a BBC Radio 4 feature on Christmas Day celebrated our Storytime performance, bringing Camerata’s work into homes across the UK on a special day.
Our digital channels saw their strongest ever performance, with 2.75 million online engagements and 126,500 live audience members reached in person. Among the highlights was a Facebook reel that went viral, amassing nearly one million views, a testament to the creativity and authenticity of our storytelling.
January saw Camerata receive an Association of British Orchestras Award for our Camerata 360° Ruth Sutton Fellowship programme, a recognition of how our internal culture of innovation continues to underpin our external success. In February, The Telegraph’s Ivan Hewett published a feature exploring the profound impact of our Music in Mind dementia work, further amplifying national awareness of our social mission. And in May, our team turned motivation into messaging, creating the playful Just Play It Nike bootleg T-shirt – a nod to our genre-defying spirit and a celebration of the orchestra’s breadth of collaborations.
Together, these activities have strengthened Camerata’s brand, broadened its reach, and reinforced its reputation as a leading innovator in the arts. More than any statistic, they show an organisation confident in its identity and unafraid to connect with audiences in fresh and joyful ways.
Looking Forward
In 2025-26, Manchester Camerata will continue to position itself as the innovative, accessible and excellent orchestra it is, leveraging our enhanced profile to drive audience growth, attract new supporters, and deepen relationships with existing ones.
