Impact case study database

Dunedin’s work with Butt uniquely combines reconstructed historical contexts (e.g. liturgies, coffee houses) with regeneration of familiar works, opening up a range of potential experiences usually unexplored in performance. Dunedin’s Chief Executive commented that in this Dunedin are unique: ‘where other ensembles draw upon accepted practices in historical performances ... Butt’s research has allowed Dunedin Consort to take these ambitions further and to incorporate the latest pioneering research into our performances and recordings’ [5.1].

4.1 Supporting Dunedin to critical acclaim, reputation and commercial success

Dunedin are covered extensively in the UK press and classical music magazines, featuring prominently in classical music coverage on British radio and television [5.2]. For example, performances of Bach’s Magnificat were well-received by the Guardian and the Independent (2 Jan 2019) which stated: ‘Dunedin Consort, under John Butt’s historically-informed direction, gave a typically dazzling performance of Bach….’ The Scotsman (Sept 2019) said of another performance: ‘ Joy, passion and precision... Butt and his players were rediscovering this well-known music afresh all over again, and taking their listeners with them...’ In November 2019 Dunedin’s unique approach was covered by Gramophone magazine [5.2], who commented that ‘ under his [Butt’s] sagacious direction, the Dunedin Consort has firmly established a world-class period-instrument ensemble’.

Dunedin’s international reputation has grown through the collaboration, illustrated by the many objections raised when Dunedin’s Creative Scotland funding was threatened, a decision that was subsequently reversed [5.3]. For example, The Times stated, ‘ *no Scottish ensemble has a bigger international reputation,*’ and a journalist for the Guardian, BBC and Herald, described them as ‘ world-class’. The Director of Lammermuir Festival and Creative Director of Classical Music for Perth Concert Hall commented that ‘Dunedin Consort is a genuinely world-class ensemble who provide fabulous music making in Scotland as well as acting as cultural ambassadors for Scotland abroad at the highest artistic level’.

Dunedin recordings have enhanced Linn Records’ catalogue with a growing discography and strong sales [5.4]. Linn Records’ Chief Producer [5.5] commented: ‘ Dunedin Consort, directly influenced by John Butt’s research and practice in historically informed performance, has made a supremely distinctive and influential contribution to classical music in the UK, Europe and across the world. Dunedin’s recordings … have added enormous lustre to the Linn label … Dunedin has become a gold standard for the historical performance of much music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and this has shown in its strong sales for Linn, within exceptionally difficult market conditions’.

Monteverdi’s Vespers 1610 (2017) was nominated for Best Baroque Vocal at the International Classical Music Awards in 2018. Dunedin, under John Butt’s direction, won a Gramophone Classical Music Award in 2014 and a Grammy nomination in 2015. This, added to other awards and prestigious nominations including the International Classical Music Awards (2014), Scottish Album of the Year (2014, 2016) and Royal Philharmonic Society awards (2018) [5.6], confers to Dunedin a status unmatched in Scotland. In 2020 they were nominated for another Gramophone award for their recording of Handel’s Samson (which was also disc of the month in the January 2020 BBC Music Magazine).

Dunedin’s gross income from performance fees and from recording royalties exceeded GBP300,000 in 2016, an upwards trajectory since 2013 [5.7a]. As Dunedin’s Chief Executive observed [5.1]: ‘that the company has expanded as much as it has done in recent years, from a turnover of around £120,000 in 2013 to £725,000 in 2019, is thanks to the reputation that Dunedin Consort and John Butt have built together’.

4.2 Increasing and diversifying reach of historically informed performance

Dunedin has had considerable geographical reach, performing at festivals in Germany, Holland, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Poland, USA, Mexico and Columbia, including the BBC Proms, Edinburgh International Festival, Boston Early Music Festival and Misteria Paschalia, Krakow, and Butt has also toured independently as a conductor in the USA, Netherlands and Hong Kong. Dunedin’s Head of Artistic Planning [5.4] noted that Dunedin’s ‘performances continue to be well attended across the world’. A version of Bach’s St. John’s Passion at the Royal Albert Hall at the 2017 Proms was presented with its original liturgy [3.4] for a large live audience and subsequently via YouTube, expanding access and attracting 77,000 views. Dunedin’s catalogue has also sold well within the classical music market, some recordings reaching the top 5 of the UK’s Classical charts [5.8].

Dunedin’s performances challenge audiences’ understanding of key 17^th- and 18^th-century musical works including by removing them from modern venues. For example, the Coffee and Enlightenment series located Bach in a more discursive, less formal environment than the modern concert hall in which they are now traditionally encountered. Inspired by Butt’s research which suggests a contemporary connection of Bach’s secular music with coffee-house culture, this included 2015 performances at the Glad Café, Glasgow, City of Edinburgh Methodist Church, and Musselburgh’s flexible Brunton Theatre. The Herald (8 Feb 2015) commented, ‘in terms of getting music out of the concert hall and into a space that appeals to a different crowd, John Butt and the Dunedin Consort couldn’t have chosen a more convivial setting. Roughly half the audience had never been to a Dunedin concert before’. [5.2f]

Butt has also appeared regularly in the media, most prominently as host of Radio 4’s Bach: A Man of Passion and BBC2’s Proms Extra, both 2017. In Scotland, Dunedin performed regularly in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Perth, Aberdeen and East Lothian. In 2019, Dunedin performed to 12,422 people across 17 local authority areas in Scotland [5.4], and total audiences of ~12,000 in 2016 and 2017, compared with 6,291 in 2013 [5.7b]. Compared with 16 performances in 2013, Dunedin gave 156 performances between August 2013–December 2020, averaging ~25 each year, with the exception of 2020 due to impacts of Covid-19 [5.7b]. Between 2015−2017 alone there were 26 performances outside of Scotland including prestigious, sold-out shows in London at the Royal Albert Hall, Wigmore Hall and King’s Place. In addition, Dunedin’s tracks were streamed almost 850,000 times up to November 2019 [5.4].

Dunedin run several initiatives aimed at diversifying audiences and performers in Scotland, including annual schools workshops series and workshops for amateur singers of all ages. These culminate each year with a Children’s Messiah, conducted by Butt, in Edinburgh and Glasgow, with special performances for some participants in Dunedin’s schools’ programme. Numbers of participants increased from 200 in 2017 to 850 in 2018, with all schools drawn from those high on the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation [5.9].

Building research capacity across music industries, through accessible data and toolkit

The UK Live Music Census (LMC) is the world’s first national census of live music, designed to address transparency and reliability of datasets used by industry and cultural organisations [3.5]. Using methods developed by Cloonan and Brennan, the LMX team, together with key partners the Music Venues Trust (MVT), Musicians’ Union (MU) and UK Music, carried out venue and online surveys and focus groups. As UK Music’s Director of Education and Skills [5.1] explained, this led to: ‘ the most comprehensive snapshot of live music … to date in the UK ... For an organisation like UK Music and its members in the live music sector, such data is extremely useful in providing evidence when it comes to both informing and supplementing our own data collection…’

Lord Clement Jones, Liberal Democrat Digital Economy Spokesperson, commented [5.2], ‘ the robust methods developed in the census gives those groups involved in campaigns around live music an excellent evidence base for both current and future lobbying of parliamentarians’. The Executive Director of the Scottish Music Industry Association (SMIA) [5.3] said that LMC ‘ provided a robust methodology for measuring live music activity within particular cities as well as conducting the most detailed study of live music activity in Glasgow to date’. The data collection toolkit is freely available for use by other city authorities, industry organisations and researchers to inform policy recommendations and decisions. As UK Music [5.1] noted, the LMC ‘ has the added benefit to the partner organisations of leaving a reliable methodology for measuring live music activity both nationally and locally which can be used as a basis for future research’.

Changes to regulations in England & Wales and Scotland planning systems

By going beyond previous research that focused on economic value to encompass social and cultural value of live music, LMC provided evidentiary support to lobbyists and policymakers for the ‘Agent of Change’ principle which places responsibility on the party who initiated the change. Previously, new city centre housing developments could force existing music venues to bear consequential costs like additional soundproofing to offset noise for residents to the newly constructed housing, which disproportionately affected the sustainability of smaller venues. LMC provided evidence that enabled MVT, MU and UK Music to effectively lobby for Agent of Change, which would reverse this. The MVT’s Strategic Director stated [5.4]: ‘the type of rigorous and impartial data produced by the Live Music Census has undoubtedly helped us not only to build a case but also to successfully influence legislators in the UK, Welsh and Scottish Parliaments on these issues.’

During the campaign, Lord Clement-Jones remarked that the case for such changes in Parliament ‘ will be reinforced by the authors of this UK Live Music Census’. In July 2018, the principle was subsequently adopted into England’s National Planning Policy Framework [5.5] and adopted into Scottish law under the Planning (Scotland) Act June 2019 [5.6]. MSP Kevin Stewart commented during the debate: ’the Scottish Government recognises the importance of ensuring that new development does not adversely impact existing businesses, particularly music venues.’ [5.7]. To give an example of the benefit of this change, the Star Inn, Guildford, faced a Council noise abatement order, forcing it to cease hosting live music. This was successfully appealed in July 2018 as a direct result of Agent of Change [5.8] because the Star Inn had existed as a music venue prior to construction of the block of flats affected by noise.

The challenge of increased business rates for smaller music venues was another issue raised by the LMC and lobbied by partner organisations. IQ magazine [5.9] reported in February 2019 that senior politicians across main political parties, having met with the then Chancellor Philip Hammond, supported UK Music’s call ‘ to make grassroots music venues eligible for business rates rebates’. Labour’s then Shadow Culture Minister, Kevin Brennan, called for a reduction, citing grounds (via the LMC) that ‘33% of small music venues reported that business rates increases had an “extreme, strong or moderate” impact on their existence in the past 12 months’. In January 2020, the UK Government announced a 50% rates reduction, again connected to UK Music’s campaigning using the LMC [5.10]. This was subsequently increased to 100% as a Covid-19 mitigation.

Enhanced co-operation between music industries, public and academia

The impact of this research extends beyond the music industries and policymakers to a wider audience via websites, the media, exhibitions/events and networks. The Live Music Exchange and MU History websites highlight issues of current and historical public interest, and both projects were covered in the media. Cloonan’s media appearances on issues related to the Live Music Census and other musical work helped raise the profile of issues affecting small venues and working musicians. Cloonan and Williamson’s work also featured prominently in the MU members’ publication, The Musician. The MU History site (up to end January 2020) had 59,985 visitors and 102,045 page views since launching in 2014. [5.12]

Williamson and Cloonan produced the MU history exhibition at the Mitchell Library, Glasgow, in January 2016, and also the Peoples’ History Museum, Manchester, and Congress House, London. The Musicians’ Union [5.11] stated that the exhibition ‘ deftly illustrated key moments in the working lives of musicians through the decades’, adding it presented a superb opportunity to showcase how ‘ the MU has played a pivotal role in the lives of musicians across the UK and abroad.’ Alongside this, Cloonan and Williamson organised Glasgow’s 2016 ‘Working in Music’ conference, bringing together the MU’s secretariat and executive committee, musicians, journalists and academics. The resulting dialogue led to the Working in Music Network, which now has ~100 members internationally, including academics, musicians, and trade unionists. A further two international conferences were organised in 2018 and in 2020, an event delayed due to Covid.

Williamson and Brennan have further developed their work to help build capacity and data relating to the music industry in Scotland via collaborative research with the SMIA. This includes supervision of an AHRC-funded doctoral student and a number of Master’s research projects. SMIA’s Executive Director noted that this work ‘ has and will make a significant and valuable contribution to understanding and lobbying on behalf of the music industry in Scotland, supported by accurate and reliable data and analysis.’ [5.3]