Our Story
2005 At just 17, Seth Pinnock gathered a small group of friends in a church community hall around a simple conviction: that young people deserved spaces big enough for their gifts, questions, stories and futures.
2006 Midnight Cry launched, bringing young people together for prayer, teaching, inspiration and shared purpose. What began as one gathering became one of the origin moments of the movement.
2007–2009 Midnight Oil grew into a national gathering, drawing thousands of young people from across the UK around faith, creativity, worship and empowerment. Seth founded A New Thing, a gospel worship group.
2010–2012 New creative spaces, social enterprises and conferences emerged — KingdomBOY!, The Good News Community Choir, A.MEN, WOVEN, Flow Dance Crew, Christmas Kitchen and the Help & Hope Fair.
2013–2015 The final Midnight Oil Summit gathered over 5,000 people. A New Thing entered the Official UK Christian Music Charts. The Midnight Cry Tour reached 50 dates across five countries.
2016–2019 Symphony Consort became a registered UK charity, marked its 10th anniversary, and Lord Michael Hastings CBE joined as Patron.
2020–2022 Symphony Schools launched, with partners including National Rail, Oxford University, Apple UK and Beats by Dre. Declaration ran as a national broadcast TV series, reaching more than 1 million people.
2024 Seth publicly came out as queer through his poem Watch Night. Symphony secured a permanent base at Oasis St Martin's Village, Symphony USA was registered, and Symphony was named Charity of the Year at the Black Talent Awards.
2025 Piloted Symphony Schools including the Exam School and Summer Music School. HRH Prince William visited Symphony Studios. Billy Porter and Kweku Mandela joined as Global Ambassadors. Featured on BBC Songs of Praise.
2026 This Is Our Story was recorded at Symphony Studios. The trustee board was rebuilt, and the House of Lords Vision Dinner raised over £100,000 in donor support and pledges.
Today Symphony stands in the strongest operational shape of its life. The next chapter is being built from Symphony Studios in South London — a school, a studio, a stage and a sanctuary.
