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Welcome to Shropshire Music Trust

For more than 40 years Shropshire Music Trust has presented an annual programme of concerts from September to June, ranging from the Renaissance period, through baroque, classical, romantic and modern, taking in jazz, folk and world music along the way. See below for details of our 2026-27 season. Alongside that, we are developing a varied programme of outreach projects with particular emphasis on musical education for children.

Date: Friday, 23rd October, 2026 at 7.30pm
Location: Maidment Building, Shrewsbury School
The cutting edge of Baroque music performance
The four members of Red priest, dressed in Baroque costume pose in a sleek, silver open-topped sports car

Vivaldi’s Four Seasons alongside works by Bach, Handel and Telemann.

Described by the New York Times as a ‘wildly virtuosic little band’, Red Priest has been at the cutting edge of Baroque music performance for over a quarter of a century. The ensemble was formed in 1997 by the modern-day wild man of the recorder, Piers Adams, together with violinist Julia Bishop, cellist Angela East and the late Julian Rhodes on harpsichord (a role now filled by David Wright), and named after the original ‘red priest’, Antonio Vivaldi.

About Us

about us collage 2026 27 500
Shropshire Music Trust strives to bring the best classical, contemporary and world music to communities in Shropshire and to encourage audiences to share in the joy of high-quality, live performances. The Trust has its roots in the Shrewsbury Music Series, established in 1983 by arts manager Kate Hogwood.

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Latest News & Reviews

Devine intervention reimagines the classics

Steven Devine, Caroline Balding and Andrew Skidmore, standing and enjoy well-deserved applause

We owe much of our sense of what the late eighteenth century sounded like to a peripatetic organist from Shrewsbury. Charles Burney, who in the early 1770s travelled through France, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands, a composer more jobbing than great and too often unfairly consigned to a footnote. But he listened, he asked questions of the European music scene, and he wrote it all down: the instruments in the room, the manner of the players, the...

Outreach

Members Shropshire Music Service's World Folk Ensemble perform on stage prior to The Budapest Café Orchestra concert in April, 2026.
Shropshire Music Trust’s outreach programme aims to extend the impact of live music beyond the concert hall into schools, community spaces and health and care settings across the county. Through participatory workshops, masterclasses with visiting artists and long-term engagement projects, the Trust connects professional musicians with young people and wider community groups.

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Volunteer

SMT volunteersVolunteers are at the heart of everything we do at Shropshire Music Trust, helping us bring world-class music to audiences across the county. 

Whether you are passionate about live music and the arts, enjoy meeting people, or simply want to support your local community, there are many ways to get involved. 

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Donate

SMT Support Us logoWe no longer receive any regular funding from local authorities or the Arts Council, so we need your help more than ever to help maintain the high quality of concerts and to engage thousands of people each year both in the main Season and in Outreach projects for the young, elderly and disadvantaged.

You may not realise that our annual box office income cannot cover the full cost and on its own accounts for only about 80% of the money needed each year to sustain our programme of work. We therefore require additional funds to deliver this and keep great music in Shropshire flowing.

Our Donor Scheme...

© 2026.  Shropshire Music Trust,
c/o 17 Whitehall Street, Shrewsbury, SY2 5AD. Email: enquiries@shropshiremusictrust.co.uk 
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