The Academy of St Martin in the Fields (ASMF) has today completed its acquisition of the London Festival Orchestra (LFO), which owns The Warehouse, Waterloo – one of London’s most vital rehearsal and recording spaces. Born from the close relationship between ASMF and LFO over many decades, the acquisition provides ASMF with its first permanent home while safeguarding a crucial part of the capital’s musical infrastructure.
Pictured (from left): Chris Martin, ASMF Director of Development and External Affairs; Julie Price, ASMF Principal Bassoon and Player Director; Elizabeth Szucs, Chief Executive, LFO; Ross Pople, Founder LFO and The Warehouse; Martin Fraenkel, ASMF Chair of the Board of Trustees; Jo Hensel, ASMF Associate Principal Horn and Player Director; Annie Lydford, ASMF Chief Executive © Matthew Johnson
Ross Pople, cellist, founder and music director of LFO, established The Warehouse during the 1990s as a home for the orchestra and as a dedicated space in the heart of London where orchestras, choirs and ensembles could rehearse and record. Following a near-fatal skiing accident in 2012 Pople was forced to put down the baton, bringing the LFO’s performing life to a premature end, but has continued to stay at the helm of this cherished rehearsal and recording venue.
Now, in that same spirit, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields will establish a permanent home for the musical excellence and adventurous spirit at the heart of its player-led approach. The Warehouse will provide the conditions for exceptional music-making: a permanent home where ASMF’s musicians and the performing arts community can explore new projects, exchange ideas, rehearse, collaborate, and develop their work together. It will also become the base for Ensemble Unheard – ASMF’s orchestra of people experiencing homelessness – and the home venue for its extensive talent development projects and partnerships.
The studios will continue to welcome the wider cultural community. ASMF’s ambition is to build this wonderful facility into a leading cultural hub for the area, benefitting from its central location and close proximity to many of the capital’s best-loved cultural venues. At a time when orchestral rehearsal space in London is increasingly scarce and many of the city’s cultural spaces remain under pressure, the acquisition safeguards the future of an important creative building for the benefit of musicians and for future generations.
The continuation of an important musical legacy
The transition reflects the continuity of a powerful musical legacy. The Warehouse was acquired, restored and established by Ross Pople as the home of the London Festival Orchestra, the very first British orchestra to own a permanent, independent home. Over the decades The Warehouse has become a much-valued part of the UK’s musical infrastructure and has hosted many of the world’s great artists, including Yehudi Menuhin, Daniel Barenboim, Pinchas Zukerman, Pierre Boulez, Martha Argerich, Mitsuko Uchida, Trevor Pinnock, Annie Lennox, Jamiroquai, Shirley Bassey, Murray Perahia, Joshua Bell and ASMF’s founder, Sir Neville Marriner.
Ross Pople, founder LFO and The Warehouse “My first view of The Warehouse in 1993 was of a derelict Victorian monster of perfect proportions in a perfect location, built of the most beautiful London stock brick. It was spontaneous – a home for my burgeoning orchestra! Not just a home, but studios and facilities for all to serve the classical world of music making. To raise finance, my Testori cello, a gift from Yehudi Menuhin, was sold, and with his blessing “It’s only an instrument. Investing in a rare property, which will support and expand your wider musical endeavours – that is very special.” My wife, Anne, named the building ‘The Warehouse’, and the two of us set on an adventure to rehabilitate and establish this most charismatic space. 30 years on and it couldn’t be more appropriate that the Academy of St Martin in the Fields takes over. When CEO Annie Lydford approached me in the Spring of 2025, she offered a perfect solution to the growing concern of an old musician. I am delighted it is the ASMF!”
A permanent home for the Academy of St Martin in the Fields
In keeping with the independence, bold thinking and entrepreneurial spirit that shaped the LFO, this acquisition marks a transformative new chapter for ASMF. The Warehouse will become the principal base for the orchestra’s rehearsals, recordings and social-purpose activity, bringing its musicians, offices, library, partnerships and archive together under one roof for the first time.
Annie Lydford, Chief Executive of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields: We are honoured that Ross and the team at The Warehouse have entrusted the future of this very special building to us. Since its founding by Sir Neville Marriner in 1958, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields has always been entrepreneurial, independent and agile, enabling us to thrive without regular public funding.
Our ambition is to create a home where exceptional music-making and bold ideas can thrive. A home where our musicians can experiment, develop new collaborations and share their experience with the next generation, and where our social-purpose work can grow and exist in the same space as our rehearsals and recordings. We want The Warehouse to bring artists, audiences, students and communities closer together, while remaining a valued space for the wider industry.
As an important new income stream for the orchestra, funds generated by ASMF’s running of this business will be invested straight back into its core work. At a time of growing pressure on the performing arts, we believe artistic ambition and financial sustainability must go hand in hand, enabling us to invest in outstanding performances and meaningful opportunities to participate in music here in London, across the UK, and around the world.”
Joshua Bell CBE, Music Director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields: “Throughout my past 15 years as the orchestra’s Music Director, many of my most rewarding musical experiences have come from working with the extraordinary musicians of the Academy. I have rehearsed with them many times at The Warehouse, so it is especially meaningful to see this much-loved space become the orchestra’s permanent home. The trust, freedom and shared commitment behind ASMF’s music-making need time and space to flourish, and this new home will give the players both. It is a tremendously exciting new chapter for the Academy and for everything we hope to create together in the years ahead.”
In a rare undertaking for an independent British orchestra, ASMF will own and operate the building – securing a permanent home for its players, programmes and purpose. Alongside its own rehearsals, community activities, performances and recordings, ASMF will continue to make the studios available across the wider music industry and generate income to be reinvested directly into ASMF’s artistic and social purpose work.
ASMF’s social purpose programme comprises both its decades-long programme of work alongside people experiencing homelessness and a major commitment to supporting and developing the next generation of talented, empowered musicians. The orchestra’s new home will provide an important permanent base from which to expand and strengthen this work in the years ahead, and coincides with the establishment of Ensemble Unheard – its orchestra formed by people experiencing homelessness.
Callum Given, Director of Social Purpose, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields: “For nearly 50 years, The Warehouse has been a space in which creativity and musicianship have flourished. In parallel, ASMF has made a decades-long commitment to benefitting communities through creative empowerment, focussing principally on work with people experiencing homelessness across London, and on supporting the next generations of talented musicians. Our research, conversations with participants, and experience of these programmes have shown that the environment and “the welcome” are critical in creating the conditions for people to thrive. As a permanent home for the orchestra and its Social Purpose programme, The Warehouse becomes a dedicated space for these programmes, influenced and directed by those who participate, and which enhances our ability to make a meaningful difference to people’s lives.
The Academy of St Martin in the Fields is committed to sustaining The Warehouse as a valuable resource for its musicians and a welcoming space for the wider community. Alongside rehearsal and recording facilities, plans include work and social spaces for musicians, coaching rooms and studios available for affordable hire, intimate public performances and greater access for local community groups. ASMF also intends to invest in acoustic improvements and, in the longer term, create a new education suite for which planning permission has already been granted.
