Since 2016, Music in New Malden has developed a distinctive strand of outreach locally.

We have received grants from the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and recently were given generous funding from a private donor to further our work with young people. This is especially vital at a time when music provision is under threat in our schools and universities. We are please to be able to contribute in a small way to preserving access to the extraordinary value of music education.

Our most recent work has ventured into the field of the Masterclass, starting in March 2025 with a Piano Masterclass given by Julian Hellaby. THis great success (the young players were of an incredibly high standard!) will be followed by further masterclasses for string, and wind players (and perhaps more…).

Our satellite visits to Burlington Junior School and Raleigh House Day Care Centre (supported by generous grants from the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in 2017-19) have demonstrated that we can deliver cultural value to pupils, teachers, patients and carers. In these visits, professional performers have taken educational programmes related to our series into these locations, explaining the context of the music, the composers, and the instruments and enhancing perception of classical music among audiences who would otherwise not regularly attend our concerts.

But we want to do more: extending our reach to other local communities who, for a variety of reasons (which may include mobility issues, mental health issues, family situations, as well as financial pressures), cannot access ‘live’ classical music-making and its proven enhancements to health and wellbeing. At a time when the pressures on local residents’ disposable income are rising, music is often one of the first ‘luxuries’ to be sacrificed, thus diminishing our humanity. Many of our audience at Music in New Malden over the years have stressed that what we offer locally is a valuable opportunity to hear classical music performed to the highest level, for which one would normally have to travel into central London and pay a significant ticket price. We will continue to offer this alternative (supporting national and local charities, as well as, indirectly, local businesses, and the community outreach expectations of the church) through future series of Music in New Malden.

If you would like to help support this outreach work, please get in touch with us at musicinnewmalden@gmail.com