ORCHESTRA OF THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT

Registered charity 295329 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment is a world renowned orchestra which plays on original instruments. Being run and artistically led by its players, it works with leading artists as well as nurturing the next generation of musicians. The OAE strives to reach the widest audience possible through performance, its school residency and established education programmes.

Causes: Education/training · Arts/culture/heritage/science · website · Get email alerts

Latest income

£4.0m

Latest spending

£4.2m

Registered

1986

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a net decrease in funds of £223,596 for the year, driven by increased charitable activity and late donor income. The Trustees maintain that the organization remains financially resilient, holding free reserves of £801,074 which exceed the stated policy target of £660,000. Despite the deficit, the Trustees and auditors confirm the charity is a going concern with adequate resources to continue operations for at least one year.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Highest-paid employee band: £100,001 - £110,000 — in the top quarter for charities its size (median £70k)

“In the band £100,001 - £110,000 1” — page 33

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Reserves policy: £660,000 (held: £801k)

“The Trustees’ reserves policy is to hold sufficient reserves to cover this overall level of risk, resulting in a current requirement to hold £660,000 in reserves” — page 9

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Going concern: noted by the trustees or auditor

“On the basis of this cash flow information, which covers a period of at least one year from the approval of the financial statements, and the level of available reserves and cash funds, the Trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the annual financial statements.” — page 9

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Trading subsidiary: OAE Productions Ltd

“The Group consists of The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (“OAE”, the parent orchestra), and OAE Productions Ltd (the subsidiary).” — page 4

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Crowe UK LLP. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — OAE (matched by registered charity number).

Leadership, per the charity’s website

Imogen Charlton-Edwards — Chair (source)
Crispin Woodhead — Chief Executive Officer (source)
Edward Shaw — Chief Operating Officer (source)
Jo Perry — Business Development Director (source)
Harry Hickmore — Development Director (source)
Cherry Forbes — Education Director (source)
Mary Price — Director of Finance (source)
Catherine Sullivan — Director of Finance (source)

Listed on the charity’s own website when we last crawled it; roles may have changed. Pay-band disclosures above are anonymous statutory disclosures and are not attributed to any named individual.

Property (HM Land Registry)

1 registered title in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (0 freehold). All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 30/09/2025)

Total income

£4.0m

Total spending

£4.2m

Cost of raising funds

£452k

Reserves (reported)

£801k

Employees

Reported reserves equal ~2.3 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (51% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 11.3% of total income — above the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

ADRIAN CHARLES FROST · trustee of 2 other charities
ALISON MCFADYEN · trustee of 1 other charity
Alexandra Bellamy
Cecelia Catherine Bruggemeyer
Christine Sticher
Crispin Peter Woodhead
Daniel Alexander KC
Dr Daniel Edgar
Dr Susan Mary Tranter
Eleanor Patricia Williamson
Emma-Jane Azkoul
IMOGEN PATRICIA CHARLTON-EDWARDS · trustee of 1 other charity
Katherine Ann Spencer · trustee of 1 other charity
LORD CHRIS SMITH
ROGER MOUNTFORD

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Belgium · Czech Republic · Denmark · France · Germany · Hungary · Italy · Malta · Netherlands · Norway · Poland · Spain

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
30/09/2025	£4.0m	£4.2m
30/09/2024	£3.8m	£3.7m
30/09/2023	£2.9m	£3.2m
30/09/2022	£3.2m	£3.3m
30/09/2021	£1.9m	£2.1m

Common questions

Is ORCHESTRA OF THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity reported a net decrease in funds of £223,596 for the year, driven by increased charitable activity and late donor income. The Trustees maintain that the organization remains financially resilient, holding free reserves of £801,074 which exceed the stated policy target of £660,000. Despite the deficit, the Trustees and auditors confirm the charity is a going concern with adequate resources to continue operations for at least one year. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Crowe UK LLP.

What does the highest-paid employee of ORCHESTRA OF THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT earn?

Per its FY2025 accounts, the highest-paid employee was in the £100,001 - £110,000 band.

Who funds ORCHESTRA OF THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT?

Funders whose own accounts filings name ORCHESTRA OF THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT as a grant recipient include DREAMCHASING, THE BRITFORD BRIDGE TRUST, THE LINBURY TRUST, THE MARTIN SMITH FOUNDATION, THE NEVILLE ABRAHAM FOUNDATION.

Shared trustees with funders

Register facts shown side by side: a person serves as trustee of both this charity and a funder whose accounts record grants to it. Shared trusteeship is lawful and common; well-run charities manage it through declared-interest procedures.

ADRIAN CHARLES FROST — trustee here and at THE BRITFORD BRIDGE TRUST

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

Funder	Year	Amount	Purpose (as stated by the funder)
DREAMCHASING	FY2024	£90k	Grant funding to institutions
THE BRITFORD BRIDGE TRUST	FY2025	£63k	Secondary
THE BRITFORD BRIDGE TRUST	FY2025	£50k	Secondary
THE LINBURY TRUST	FY2025	£50k	For their locally focused music-led school and community programme.
THE LINBURY TRUST	FY2024	£50k	Towards the outreach and engagement programme.
THE BRITFORD BRIDGE TRUST	FY2024	£50k	Primary
THE BRITFORD BRIDGE TRUST	FY2024	£50k	Primary
THE BRITFORD BRIDGE TRUST	FY2023	£50k	Primary
THE BRITFORD BRIDGE TRUST	FY2024	£38k	Primary
THE BRITFORD BRIDGE TRUST	FY2023	£38k	Primary
THE BRITFORD BRIDGE TRUST	FY2022	£38k	Primary - The advancement of the arts, culture, heritage or science
THE MARTIN SMITH FOUNDATION	FY2021	£31k
DREAMCHASING	FY2023	£25k
THE NEVILLE ABRAHAM FOUNDATION	FY2025	£25k	Donation to Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
THE ARDEOLA CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2022	£25k
THE ORR MACKINTOSH FOUNDATION LIMITED	FY2025	£10k
THE IDLEWILD TRUST	FY2024	£5k
THE ALBERT AND EUGENIE FROST MUSIC TRUST CIO	FY2024	£5k
STANLEY PICKER TRUST	FY2022	£5k	Educational Grants - Bursaries
THE IDLEWILD TRUST	FY2022	£5k
THE ARDEOLA CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2023	£5k
THE BRIAN MITCHELL CHARITABLE SETTLEMENT	FY2022	£5k
THE MICHAEL MARKS CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2025	£4k
THE MICHAEL MARKS CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2022	£4k
THE DYERS' COMPANY CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2022	£3k	Education and the Young
THE BRIAN MITCHELL CHARITABLE SETTLEMENT	FY2023	£3k
OLD POSSUM'S PRACTICAL TRUST	FY2022	£3k	Support for the arts
THE HAROLD HYAM WINGATE FOUNDATION	FY2024	£3k
THE VERNON ELLIS FOUNDATION	FY2022	£2k
The Patricia Routledge Foundation	FY2025	£2k
THE GOLSONCOTT FOUNDATION	FY2025	£1k
THE ARDEOLA CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2025	£500
DREAMCHASING	FY2025	£0	Grant funding to institutions
THE BRIAN MITCHELL CHARITABLE SETTLEMENT	FY2024	—

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

Funder	Date	Amount	Purpose
The National Lottery Community Fund	03/02/2005	£4k	Messiah Plus

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

Funder	Similar charities funded	Amount to them
DR RADCLIFFE'S TRUST	4	£21k
THE JOHN R. MURRAY CHARITABLE TRUST	3	£185k
THE REED FOUNDATION	2	£57k
THE KIRBY LAING FOUNDATION	2	£34k
CHAPMAN CHARITABLE TRUST	2	£3k
THE ASTOR FOUNDATION	2	£2k
ROYAL PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY	1	—
THE GUYLL-LENG CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£455k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with THE ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC.

THE ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC income £1.2m
ORCHESTRA OF ST JOHN'S LIMITED income £337k
ORCHESTRAS LIVE income £1.1m
THE LONDON MOZART PLAYERS TRUST income £1.3m
THE NATIONAL YOUTH ORCHESTRA OF GREAT BRITAIN income £5.2m
THE PARAORCHESTRA AND FRIENDS income £2.0m

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
ORCHESTRA OF THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT	£4.0m	£100,001 - £110,000	—	unclear	—	noted
THE ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC FY2025	£1.2m	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt
ORCHESTRA OF ST JOHN'S LIMITED FY2025	£337k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
ORCHESTRAS LIVE FY2025	£1.1m	£80,001 - £90,000	1	below	—	no doubt
THE LONDON MOZART PLAYERS TRUST FY2025	£1.3m	£60,001 - £70,000	1	above	—	no doubt
THE NATIONAL YOUTH ORCHESTRA OF GREAT BRITAIN FY2025	£5.2m	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.