Background

Since the charity’s inception in the early 1980s hundreds of musicians have been helped by the Abbado Trust.

This help ranges from providing interest free loans to professionals who need to buy high quality instruments to providing instrument access for students.

What the Trust provides

The Abbado Trust has two main objectives:

  • To provide interest free loans to musicians under 30 on the threshold of a professional performing career;

  • To help provide musical instruments for the general encouragement and performance of music.

Meet the Trustees

  • Trustee Frances Wyhowska in the cockpit of a fighter jet

    Frances Wyhowska, Trustee

    I have been a trustee of the Abbado Trust since it was founded in 1982. The daughter of two professional musicians, I read music at Oxford and joined Christie’s London in 1979.  I took over the running of the Musical Instruments department in 1981 and ultimately became a director of the company.  In 1996 I joined J & A Beare, the international violin specialists, where I remained as a director and part-owner until 2013.

    In addition to supporting young professional musicians I work with our Armed Forces veterans.  I am an ambassador for the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans, a member of Beyond the Wire, which supports the bereaved families of acting and ex-Armed Forces personnel, and I am also a member of a voluntary Ministry of Defence Committee (VAPC) acting as an advocate for veterans of the armed forces.

  • Trustee Andrew Collins

    Andrew Collins, Trustee

    Andrew is a Corporate solicitor and partner at City law firm, Charles Russell Speechlys LLP.   He specialises in representing family businesses and companies, predominantly in the real estate and financial services sectors.

    He is a keen music lover and of the Arts generally, and a regular attendee at concerts, of all genres.

    Andrew is also a trustee of the Charles Russell Speechlys Foundation.

  • Trustee Philip Robinson takes a bow with soprano Helen Hardwick.

    Philip Robinson, Trustee

    Philip trained as a choral scholar at Worcester college, Oxford where he read modern history, and as a scholar in vocal studies at the Royal Academy of Music.

    Philip is a trustee of the Abbado European Young Musicians Trust (Abbado Trust), a position he has held for over a decade.  He is responsible for helping assess applications to the Abbado Trust as well as for monitoring the investment management arrangements.  He is able to undertake the latter given his financial background in portfolio management and investment consulting.

    As a professional tenor Philip has performed widely within both oratorio and concert repertoires. 

    Philip is also Chief Executive of the Yellow Heart Trust, a charity that provides therapeutic interventions for those suffering from issues relating to addiction and / or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

  • Liane Hartnett, Administrator

    As administrator, Liane is the first point of contact for The Abbado Trust.