Wigmore Hall has thrown its support behind making music accessible to everyone by today unveiling a new £1 ticket scheme for eligible audience members to its family concerts (for children aged 1-years-old and upwards). There will also be a new series of ‘low stimulus’ concerts for neurodivergent audiences and those who prefer a quieter environment.

The announcement came as part of the famed London chamber venue’s unveiling of its 2023/24 season, which will feature more than 500 concerts – involving 2500 artists – between September and July, including 28 world and UK premieres.

Composer focuses will explore the music of Australian composer Brett Dean and British composers Laurence Osborn and Joseph Phibbs, Solomon’s Knot becomes the venue’s Baroque Ensemble in Residence, and soprano and composer Héloïse Werner becomes an Associate Artist.

 ‘As we celebrate the new season, recent news has cast a long shadow over the future and well-being of classical music in the UK, said John Gilhooly, Wigmore Hall’s Artistic and Executive Director.

‘While Wigmore Hall's belief in the intrinsic value of music is unwavering and we continue to do what we do best – bringing the best of classical music performed by the finest musicians to the widest possible audience – we will be re-doubling our effort to introduce classical music to young people from the earliest possible age. We hope our new £1 ticket scheme for struggling families will be a signal to parents and teachers that it is never too early to start and that children's musical education needn't be a victim of the cost of living crisis,’ he added.

Audiences outside the London auditorium will, as usual, be able to share in the performances with lunchtime concerts broadcast on BBC Radio 3 every Monday at 1pm, while those and many evening concerts are also streamed live and available on Wigmore Hall’s website for up to 90 days, free of charge.

New international partnerships include a ‘Wigmore Hall Festival’ which will open Ireland’s new concert hall, the Whyte Recital Hall at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin, as well as a French Song Exchange in collaboration with Paris’s Salle Cortot.

For full details, visit Wigmore Hall’s website.