Concert Programmes Database

This database is the result of a three-year project (2004–07), funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and hosted by Cardiff University and the Royal College of Music.  It provides descriptions of concert programme collections held by leading libraries, archives and museums in the UK and Ireland, thereby improving access to a vital source of information about musical life from the seventeenth century to the present day.

The database is intended as a guide to finding programme collections, rather than providing full details of the content of individual programmes: it provides information about 5,525 collections in 53 holding institutions, including libraries, archives, museums, performance venues, and local studies collections.

The institutional coverage is extensive and includes the British Library, the Royal College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music in London, the Bodleian Library, Oxford and the national libraries of Scotland and Ireland, as well as repositories in Aldeburgh, Birmingham, Bradford, Cardiff, Cambridge, Cheltenham, Edinburgh, Leeds and Manchester.

Each collection of programmes covered by the project has been described and indexed with reference to geographical coverage and concert venues, time periods, subjects, and names of performers, concert venues, ensembles, promoters, and collectors.  Users may browse each of these fields by following the links to 'Time', 'People' (both personal and corporate names), 'Place' (concert venues) or 'Subject', or search the entire database using the search box or the advanced search options provided.

For more details of the project’s history and scope, see
Rupert Ridgewell , ‘The Concert Programmes Project: History, Progress and Future Directions’, Fontes Artis Musicae, 57/1 (January-March 2010)