YORK Late Music concert administrator Steve Crowther is a realist. “There isn’t a Plan B out there. With the change of government in 2010 and the arts cuts that were bound to come, everyone has had to step up to the plate,” he says.

“The question is, how do you react? One, you could get religious and pray or, two, you could get your own house in order, which is what we did.”

York Late Music decided to focus on Living Composers, Performed Live, in a regular, settled location of the Unitarian Chapel in St Saviourgate, charging an “affordable price” of £10, concessions £8, for monthly concerts held on the first Saturday of March to October.

“Though we were pushed into a corner, where you can’t rely on a subsidy as the first port of call, you have to making your ticket pricing realistic,” says Steve.

“We’ve had to look at what we were doing, and while I don’t welcome the climate out there, it sure as hell toughens you up.

“So, in a perverse sense, we should come out stronger, because, if you have to look in the mirror and adapt, you will eventually come out better for it.”

The York Late Music programme originally took the form of festivals, but the monthly format better sustains the momentum. “What we realised when we held the festivals was that we had a box of tricks, from Indian music to cutting-edge, jazz to classical – a whole variety to attract audiences into listening to contemporary music,” says Steve, “But now we simply concentrate on living composers once a month. I’d like to think you could step back in time and see the obvious, but what has now evolved is that we’re about new music.

“We have everything in place now: that focus on new music; lots of new commissions; one venue and a fixed pattern of concerts.”

The 2012 series opened on March 3 with a concert by cellist Simon Turner and pianist Richard Casey and a pre-concert talk by composer Anthony Gilbert, whose work Rapprochement received its world premiere.

He wrote to Steve afterwards, thanking him for the “big lift” of his commission: “The whole evening was so very lively, unlike some contemporary concerts I attend in Manchester or London, where the audiences sometimes seem a trifle disengaged,” Anthony said, praising the “very warm reception to all the pieces” and the “superb performances”.

Such a response was music to Steve’s ears. “He thought York Late Music had a unique atmosphere, devoid of pretence, and I’m delighted by that,” he says. Tomorrow’s concert by baritone Jeremy Huw Williams and pianist Nigel Foster comprises premieres of new song settings and cycles by regional poets and composers.

“There are six new pieces within the programme, although ironically the big selling point is Paul Mealor’s Twilight, because Paul wrote the number for the Military Wives’ television series.”

Former Late Music director David Power, Edward Caine, Ailis Ni Riain, David Lancaster, Julia Broughton and Peter Byrom-Smith are all contributing new pieces, while Steve Crowther’s Songs For Fred will receive its second performance. “It was premiered last year. After my dad died, I wrote seven songs, one each for my brother, four sisters, my mum and my dad, and it was a bit raw for me last time, so I’m looking forward to hearing them more objectively,” he says.

Coming next will be the Ligeti String Quartet on May 5 in a programme of works by Philip Glass, John Adams, Steve Crowther, Late Music patron Nicola LeFanu and a new work by David Lancaster, who will give a talk at 6.45pm.

“The Ligeti String Quartet are the new kids on the Late Music block from London; they’re starting to make a name for themselves and are very personable – and the violinst, Richard Jones, went to York University,” says Steve. The June 2 concert will feature Rika Zayasu in a piano recital whose programme has been selected by composer Michael Parkin, rather than by Steve.

“Michael had almost complete autonomy for that programme as the series needs more invention and perspective than just me doing the programming, and it was Michael who chose Rika to play this concert,” says Steve.

“It’s about letting go and letting someone else choose a soloist. I think we just have to do that, so next year, there’ll be more people doing the programming, but I’ll have an overview.”

Further concerts will feature the Micklegate Singers on July 7; baritone Paul Carey Jones and pianist Ian Ryan, in a celebration of British Songs In The Twenty-First Century, on August 4; series debutants Souza Winds on September 1; and the Elysian Singers on October 6, premiering a new work by York-based Australian composer David Lumsdaine, who turns 80 this year.

“David hasn’t written for a while, and we’re thrilled he’s writing something new for us,” says Steve.

“The UK premiere of Where The Lilies will be a fitting climax to our season.”

All concerts start at 7.30pm except for the Micklegate Singers at 8pm. Tickets are available online at latemusic.org or on the door.