Moreton Hall Music Students Performs at International Chamber Music Festival

Moreton Hall GCSE music student Selina Shi performed as part of the ‘Young Musician Ensemble’ in this year’s International Chamber Music Festival in Whittington.

Moreton Hall GCSE music student Selina Shi performed as part of the ‘Young Musician Ensemble’ in this year’s International Chamber Music Festival in Whittington.

15 year old Selina was invited to participate in the first violin section after winning the 15 and under string solo class at the Oswestry Music Festival back in March.

Selina enthused: “It was good to play with other professional musicians.

“We practised on Thursday evening and performed on the Friday night. There was only a short period of time to practice.

“I was nervous walking on to stage, but once I started performing my nerves were gone. Experience in previous competitions helped calm my nerves.”

James Barralet, the Festival’s artistic director and professional musician, composed a stunning arrangement: A Smetana/Dvořák medley. By James’s own admission this was one of the most tricky arrangements he’d written for young musicians. That said, the impressive arrangement morphed seamlessly into the well known melodies of Dvořák’s Slavonic Dance, New World Symphony and Smetana’s famous symphonic poem, Vltava.

All the local, young musicians, supported by a group of professional musicians, gave their all and rose to the occasion.

The audience was simply in awe of such quality of music making by our youngsters and acknowledged their superb and musical performance by rapturous applause.

Whittington’s eighth International Chamber Music Festival will take place between 12-17th May 2020 and will be entitled ‘Folklassical’. The Festival will explore connections between classical music and its traditional roots, with folk music performed alongside Haydn, Schubert, Vaughan Williams, Kodaly and other great composers.