I am pleased to report that our 2024 festival was a resounding success and all participants enjoyed taking part.
Thanks are due to Simon Roberts, the director of the Redbridge Music Service, who facilitated our week-long stay at the centre, and to St Mary’s Church in South Woodford, who once again made our choirs and bands so welcome.
Dozens of cups were awarded, plus some cash prizes and other awards.
Daniel Tamisyan won the EPTA Cup for piano, and Yazdi Madon won the Felix Marr Piano Award. Gabriella Bavetta won the Concerto Class, and the winner of our prestigious Young Musician of the Year Competition was Katie Mollard. All our adjudicators commented on the exemplary standard throughout the festival this year and we applaud their perceptive comments doing this difficult job.
All our helpers are volunteers and we are so grateful to them all. Our treasurer, Jo Chui, has retired this year and we are very grateful for all she has done. We welcome Charlotte Rayner as our new treasurer. Karen Akerman, who has run the Instrumental section for many years, is moving away. She will still be helping at the Festival but Jo Symonds will be taking over her role. Olivia Burren is another long-standing member of the committee who has moved away. She was the Singing Convenor and the Choirs Convenor in the past and is now retiring from her role as Child Safety Officer. She will also continue to help us out.
We continue to try to increase the range of our social media contacts and we are grateful for the help our website manager, Liz Hawkins, gives us.
Thank you so much to all our supporters: participants, helpers and friends of the festival. It is a privilege to run such a wonderful festival and we all look forward to another successful festival in February 2025.
Stella Redburn
Festival Secretary