All of us at the Hallé are thrilled at the Chancellor’s announcement of a permanent increase in the Orchestra Tax Relief rate to 45% from 1 April 2025.

This is excellent news for British orchestras: it will enable growth and resilience for our sector generally, allow us to plan for the future and, specifically for the Hallé, enable us to remain pioneering in our performance and educational work here in Manchester and internationally.

We are fresh from receiving a Royal Philharmonic Award for spearheading Manchester Classical – an innovative two day event at The Bridgewater Hall in partnership with our fellow orchestras – and this is just one example of an event where OTR enabled us to adventure with a new project that brought in new audiences from our communities in Greater Manchester.