‘Stirring’ ‘full of detail’ ‘excellent’ ‘real presence’ ‘rich sounding’ ‘a group truly as great as its constituent parts’. Just some of the words drawn from the adjudicators’ comments at MFY 2017.
Almost 60 boys made the journey to Harrow Arts Centre to participate in the regional round of National Music for Youth Festival. This is the largest youth music festival in the world, involving some 40,000 young musicians from across the British Isles. A group from Dulwich Prep has been invited to the National Finals, held in Birmingham, almost every year in recent memory.
The Senior Orchestra began the afternoon session in fine style. Its commanding and assured performance attracted very favourable comments from the MFY officials, staff at the Arts Centre and teachers from other schools and music centres. The Big Band had toes tapping with three well-chosen pieces and, again, the audience reaction showed just how much the band’s performance had been appreciated. Both groups should be proud of their performances and gave a display of musicianship that would grace any performance space involving musicians of a much greater age.
Click here for a short clip of the Jazz Band playing at the festival.
