The Orpheus Foundation, founded in 2010, is a London-based organisation that supports young musicians in the early stages of their careers between leaving music colleges and establishing themselves in the profession. The music critic Richard Morrison wrote in The Times in 2013 about the difficulty of making this transition, "Our conservatoires turn out 1,500 instrumentalists each year, and standards are phenomenally high. Yet there are rarely more than a handful of vacancies in British orchestras each year."
The foundation provides opportunities for young musicians "to play in public, meet and work with established members of the profession and develop an all-round knowledge of the orchestral repertoire." The orchestra of the foundation, the Orpheus Sinfonia, has Thomas Carroll as its artistic director, and works with soloists including Tasmin Little, Tamsin Waley-Cohen and Aleksei Kiseliov. The Foundation's Patron is Dame Judi Dench, and other prominent supporters include Aled Jones, Joanna David, Edward Fox and Lord Winston.
In the 2013–14 season Orpheus Sinfonia performed under the baton of their guest conductor Heinrich Schiff for a programme including Mahler Symphony No. 1, worked alongside soloists including Jack Liebeck, a visit to Brighton Festival and have given performances of core repertoire, new commissions and more exploratory works.
The orchestra has developed outreach work alongside Keys of Change with students from Fukushima, Japan at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, and have been invited to Japan for further projects for which support is currently sought.
The 2014–15 season saw Orpheus embark on their first operatic project, Die Fledermaus, working in partnership with Opera Danube, performing with Dame Felicity Lott in September 2014 at both the Windsor Festival and Cadogan Hall. Further projects include visits to major music festivals around the country, incorporating large-scale symphonic works and smaller scale chamber programmes, as well as continuing to work with world-class soloists and conductors.
Most of the Sinfonia's concerts are given in St George's, Hanover Square in central London. The orchestra's other regular venue is the 900-seat Cadogan Hall in Chelsea. In September 2011, the Sinfonia made its first international tour, performing in venues in Austria. During the tour there was a fortnight-long series of conducting masterclasses culminating in a conducting competition during which nine contestants conducted the Sinfonia.
In January 2013 the foundation inaugurated the "Orpheus Composer of the Year" competition. The 2014 winner was Peter Facer, whose piece, The Peter Pan Suite, received its premiere at Cadogan Hall on 17 June 2014. The foundation also holds a competition for "Orpheus Musician of the Year", the 2014 winner was the young pianist Dominic Degavino.