Berkshire’s Young Musicians Excel At LVS Ascot Music Festival
26 Feb 2016
Almost 100 of the most talented young musicians from Berkshire and surrounding counties gathered at LVS Ascot last weekend to vie for medals on the school’s professional stage.
Nineteen performers walked away from the event, held on 6th and 7th February, with gold medals, whilst an additional informal ‘performers platform’ gave younger musicians the chance to play publicly but without the pressure of staged competition in the recital room at the leading independent, all-ability school.
Gold medal success for LVS Ascot school came in the Classical Song Intermediate Level category and Overall Singing Award for 12-year-old Jamie Kedwards, and in the Woodwind Beginner class for Alexandros Fernandez-Poulopoulos, whilst eight other performances from students at the school won silver or bronze medals. Pupils from Hawthorns Primary School in Wokingham picked up three gold medals, whilst students from Charters School, St John’s Beaumont, Holyport College and Ranelagh School amongst others also collected top awards.
Four gold medals went to pupils from schools outside Berkshire, whilst the event saw a 20% increase in participants, showing the reputation and reach the Music Festival has already established in only its second year. With a wide range of piano classes along with musical theatre, composition, jazz, strings and woodwind categories, the festival allowed all musical talents to shine at a celebration of all youth music.
James Bryant, LVS Ascot’s Master in Charge of Piano and Keyboard who devised the festival, said: “The standard was notably higher than last year, and so many performances sounded of professional quality. It was incredibly difficult to pick the gold medal winners as so many were in the running. As an all-ability school we aim to give everyone the chance to participate and excel in areas at which they are passionate about or have a real talent, and our combination of professional stage and informal performing options perfectly demonstrated that. Our facilities here for students with musical talent, such as recording studio, 300-seat theatre and recital room, are second to none and the quality of the weekend certainly did it justice”.
A Music Festival Winners’ Concert, where the public will be able to enjoy best performances from the Festival, will be held at LVS Ascot on Friday 26thFebruary at 7pm. All are welcome to attend and enjoy the best school music the area has to offer and the most prestigious accolade of the Festival, the Best Overall Musician Award which will be announced on the night.
Photo: Jamie Kedwards celebrates his LVS Ascot Music Festival Award for Singing with teacher and event organiser James Bryant