Most of Moeran's contemporary composers have societies or trusts set up as registered charities in their names, dedicated to the continual promotion of their work, the sponsoring of performances, recordings, competitions and so on. Somehow Moeran missed out on this.

Well, this website can provide a stepping stone towards a similar goal. By creating an organisation, even one which initially meets virtually through Internet technologies, the seeds can sown for a fully recognised, "official" society at a later date. If this becomes a funded organisation which can initiate recordings and sponsor concerts, so much the better, but that is for the members to discuss and decide at a late date. The first step is to create a loose organisation of interested parties, a group able to decide democratically the direction it wants to take.

For the moment the Virtual Moeran Society is looking for initial registrations of interest. Anyone is free to join, or leave, at any point, and at no cost. If there is sufficient interest I can set up online chat facilities or e-mailing groups for further discussion - that way you will decide what direction any society is to take. In this way anyone around the world can become involved at no extra cost or inconvenience, and we take another step towards harnessing the Internet in what I believe is a unique way.

So if you sign up for a Virtual Moeran Society membership now, what does that mean? What's in it for you now, beyond the initial registration? Here are a few initial ideas:

Exclusive publications

The restoration of the 1946 Violin Concerto recording is hopefully only the start of a series of such projects. I may not be in a position to make these recordings commercially available, but through Society membership I hope to offer you 'homemade' CDs of these works at budget CD prices.

A Moeran.com e-mail address

Show your enthusiasm for Moeran by adopting a Moeran.com e-mail address. You might not be able to get the name you want at Hotmail or AOL, but the slightly smaller numbers involved here mean you've a pretty good chance of getting <yourname>@moeran.com as an e-mail address. As long as yourname isn't Andrew or Barry, of course! You don't need to change Internet Provider to use this - mail sent to your Moeran.com address can be automatically redirected to your normal account - it just acts as an alias.

The Virtual Moeran Society Register

Put your name in the Moeran Society Register, as we build up an indication of just how many people are interested in Moeran and his music.

Your own ideas

These are just a few suggestions. Ideally a Virtual Moeran Society will generate further ideas which, if feasible, can be put into practise. Until we have a firm idea of numbers and level of interest it's hard to say where this might lead - so have your own say.