The classical music concert, Cambridge Summer Music Festival, received “a very generous loan” which will allow it to continue for it’s 36th year.

A campaign to raise £35,000 was started by Tim Brown, Chairman of the festival, in October last year to secure the survival of the event, a prominent cultural feature in the Cambridge calendar. Despite a growth in audience numbers in recent years, and achieving widespread critical acclaim, the Festival has suffered from a decline in sponsorship and advertising revenue.

However, fortunes have been reversed since the Appeal Launch, run by the Trustees of the Festival. Over three quarters of the necessary funds have been generated in just four months. Contributions have come from personal donations on Just Giving, group fundraising activities, such as £360 raised by members of Choir 2000, and a substantial portion from an anonymous “generous loan”.

Cambridge Summer Music Festival released a statement on their website at the start of January, thanking donors but reminding the public that “there is just over £8,000 still to raise”. Further fundraising events are in the pipeline, but details have yet to be announced.

Cambridge’s Summer Music Festival has been running for 35 years. Last summer it was attended by thousands of people and provided nearly 40 classical music concerts, making it one of the most successful and long running of its kind in the UK. Juliet Abrahamson, Director of the Cambridge Summer Music Festival, described the organisers of the event as “absolutely thrilled”, and said that “there is overwhelming public support and we, as the organisers, have great will to make sure it does succeed.”

“It’s now very important to keep up the momentum and put on something really good.”

Last year the classical music festival integrated talent from the university, Cambridge residents, and internationally acclaimed artists. Highlights from 2014 included world renowned conductor Sir Roger Norrington and pianist Joanna MacGregor. The Cambridge Summer Music Festival also has an ethos of supporting up and coming classical talent and locally based music projects. The previous opening night took place in King’s College Chapel and was performed by the Cambridge community based choir, Festival Chorus. The Fitz Proms, hosted in the Fitzwilliam Museum, is aimed specifically at giving a platform to new and talented young artists.

The next Festival is scheduled to take place between 17th July and 1st August 2015, confirmed by a statement on the Cambridge Summer Music Festival’s website. No acts have as yet been announced.