All posts by Gay and Alan Cooper

Syllabus 2019

The 2019 syllabus has been undergoing final checks and is now available here.

You can enter by post or online. Please note that entries for 2019 are now closed, but you can come and listen to the Festival.

This year a new feature of the festival is the Challow Park Chamber Music Prize.  This prize of £100 is sponsored by the Challow Park Music trust and will be awarded to a group competing in the Chamber Music class 280.

Watch this space for updates, or see our Facebook page or follow us on Twitter.

 

Calling All Performers! The 2019 Syllabus is Now Out!

We are pleased to announce that the 2019 Festival Syllabus is now available. So if you, or your child or your pupil, are an enthusiastic or aspiring singer or musician, download the syllabus now and see what classes you would like to enter.

You have the opportunity to perform in front of a sympathetic audience and a highly qualified adjudicator who will provide helpful advice while assessing you, and you will receive a written adjudication and a certificate. You will be able to enjoy hearing other performers. If you do really well you may even get the chance to perform in the Final Concert or be considered for one of our cash prizes or trophies.

There is a not to be missed opportunity to be accompanied at no extra cost by our widely experienced accompanist on one of the world class grand pianos in the Hall at Challow Park.

We have classes for all ages from 9 and under to 55 and over, singers in many genres, instruments including strings (guitars as well as orchestral) , woodwind, brass, piano. organ, percussion, even handbells, for soloists and groups of all sizes from 2 to 30!

Please note entries for 2019 are now closed but it is still possible to come and listen.

This Year’s Festival

Preparations for this year’s Festival are proceeding apace and the syllabus is now complete, with solo and group classes for all ages from 9 and under to 55+, and all levels from beginner to Grade 8 or Open.

This year a new feature of the festival is the Challow Park Chamber Music Prize.  This prize of £100 is sponsored by the Challow Park Music trust and will be awarded to a group competing in the Chamber Music class 280.

So if you enjoy singing or playing an instrument, come and perform in front of a sympathetic audience and a professional adjudicator who will give you feedback. There are prizes for the very best singers and instrumentalists, but every performer will get comments on their performance and a certificate.

Those who enjoy listening to live music will also find plenty to enjoy during the Festival. A selection of the most interesting and outstanding performances during the festival will be presented at the final concert – not to be missed!

The provisional outline programme for 2019 is given below

Saturday 22nd June – Piano Classes
Sunday 23rd June – String Classes (Bowed Strings and Guitars) Sunday 23rd June – Brass, Woodwind and Miscellaneous Classes
Sat 29th and Sunday 30th June (possibly also 28th) – Vocal Classes
Saturday 6th July – Instrumental Prize Finals (John Durrant Prize and Cooper Cup) and Final Concert

It will be at The Hall at Challow Park, OX12 9RH.

Online and Postal Entries for 2019 Have Now Closed

The Wantage Music Festival Association is pleased to announce that it is possible to enter either online or by post. So you don’t need to hunt for envelopes or stamps to get your entry in, or wait for the post. You can enter yourself, or enter others as a Teacher, Parent/Guardian. or as an organisation such as a choir or a group.

Entries for 2019 are now closed. If you have already entered for this year we look forward to hearing you in June. If you are interested in performing but missed this year we’d love to see you next year. Entries for 2020 are expected o open around early February. In the meantime do come along and listen to this year’s festival.

You’ll find instructions and a link to the online entry system here.

If you’d rather enter by post you can still do that. It’s your choice!

So you have plenty of time to decide what you would like to sing or play next year before you get your entries in!  (If you haven’t decided by then, just put tba.)

The deadline was Friday April 5th 2019 so to all those who got your entries in, we’ll see you in June!

Adjudicators and Accompanists for 2019

The adjudicators are there to hear the performances and provide customised advice to all, from beginners to professional musicians, and to help them know what the next steps can be to further improve their performances.
All our adjudicators are highly experienced performers and teachers. They know what it is like to stand up in front of an audience and pass on their love of music, and how to help others do this more effectively.
We can now announce that our adjudicators have been selected for 2019. They have been chosen for their ability both to identify how performance can be polished and to present this in a way to leave the performers keen to put it into practice.
The adjudicators are:
Piano :                                                         Ruth Gerald
Strings, Woodwind and Brass:    Kay Tucker 
Vocal :                                                         Maria Jagusz
                                                                        Sarah Jefferies 
 
Once again we have the privilege of accomplished and supportive piano accompaniments played by Paul Turner on the top-rated Fazioli piano at The Hall at Challow Park.

Privacy Policy

We need to keep some information about all festival entrants so we can plan our programme, produce a printed programme, prepare marksheets and certificates, let them know when they are performing etc. We also know that many of you would like us to inform you about future festivals.

In accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation we aim to keep you informed and not to keep more information about you than we need to. So we have developed a Privacy Policy, which you can see here. We shall also send it to all entrants.

Happy New Year

Wishing all our competitors, teachers, parents, volunteers, audience members, adjudicators and accompanists a happy and harmonious 2019.

We hope to see you  many of you at this year’s Festival at The Hall at Challow Park on 22nd, 23rd, 29th and 30th June and 6th July.

Festival Update – Programme and Privacy Policy

The festival programme has now been agreed, and entrants will soon be receiving their time-cards  – if they haven’t received them before they read this! We have also agreed our new Privacy Policy, which we shall be sending to all entrants. You can see it here.

The outline programme is shown below. A full printed programme showing all entrants and details of their music will be available for £3 on the door and for a couple of weeks beforehand at the Vale and Downland Museum.

Saturday 16th June Piano and Organ.
Adjudicator Michael Young
10:00 am – 12:15 pm, 2:00 – 4:20 pm, 6:00 – 7:50 pm
Sunday 17th June: Bowed Strings and Guitars,
Adjudicator Oliver Gledhill
10:00 am – 12:30 pm
Friday 22nd June: Vocal Recitals including the John Miller Prize
Adjudicator Maria Jagusz
6:00 – 9:15 pm
Saturday 23rd June: Vocal
Adjudicator Julia Dewhurst
10:30 am – 12:30 pm junior, 2:00 – 4:55 pm vocal & choral
6:00 – 8:40 pm opera – Opera Unmasked Prize
Sunday 24th June:  Brass, Woodwind and Vocal
10:00 am – 12:40 pm Brass, 3:00 – 5:00 pm Woodwind
Adjudicator Liz Childs
6:00 – 8:45 pm Adult Vocal, Adjudicator Julia Dewhurst
Saturday 30th June: Instrumental Prize Finals and Closing Concert
6:30 pm Instrumental Prize Finals
John Durrant Prize and Ken Cooper cup
7:30 pm Festival Concert featuring prizewinners and other
selected performances
Presentation of Prizes:
John Miller Prize – Song Recital classes 28 & under
Wantage Town Shield – singer aged over 28
Opera Unmasked Prize – opera class 60
John Durrant Prize – instrumentalist 18  & under
Ken Cooper Cup- instrumentalist aged over 18

Stop Press! 2018 Deadline Extended to Tuesday April 3rd

We have been trialling online entries this year, and we are pleased to see how many people have tried it out – we’ve been watching the entries come in! And of course you haven’t had to hunt for those stamps and envelopes that are never there when you want them, and you’ve been able to get instant confirmation..

We realise it took us a while to get everything set up and tested to make sure everything would be working properly for you, so those of you entering online haven’t had a lot of time to do so. So we’ve decided to give you the Easter weekend for those of you that haven’t got your entries in yet. (Or perhaps you have, but were thinking of entering another class as well.)

We’planning to relax a little over Easter and start processing the entries afterwards, so if you get your entries in by April 3rd you won’t miss your chance. And if you are entering by post, get it in the post by then and we’ll see it – might be best to put a 1st class stamp on, though!

We’ll look forward to seeing you in June!