Music for Youth, the music charity, is to hold its national festival in Birmingham this year. The festival which is the largest in Europe, runs from July 10th to 15th and will be held in various venues including the Symphony Hall and Birmingham Conservatoire. Wakefield can be proud that it will be represented by at least three groups in the forthcoming Festival . It was announced this week that the Choir and Samba Group of St Peter's School, Horbury and the Wakefield Youth Jazz Orchestra have all been invited to participate following performances in the regional event in March.
Wakefield Youth Jazz Orchestra has been running for two years now and is directed by Roger Scorah. The group contains some of Wakefield's best young jazz musicians who are now getting used to playing at high profile venues and events. The next concert they are playing in locally is at Ossett Town Hall on Friday 26th May.
St Peter's School in Horbury has a long tradition of excellent music making and the children are used to playing in front of others in assemblies, church services and in concerts. Since Christmas, Dawn Ellis' Year 5 class has been learning to play Samba percussion with Wakefield Music Services' teacher Lee Muncaster as part of the Wider Opportunities programme and it is this group who will be joining the school's choir in Birmingham. Lee Muncaster comments "Wider Opportunities is a fantastic partnership between Schools and Wakefield Music Services and this is a demonstration of what can be achieved by working together. To perform at such a large and high profile event will give the children a really memorable and exciting experience." Dawn Ellis also directs the school choir who are due to perform at the festival on the Tuesday. Geraldine Gaunt, Adviser for Wakefield Music Services has been working with the choir and said she was absolutely delighted with the ways in which the choir had developed their
performing skills, "I know the children are really excited and very proud of their achievement."
