We got off to a great start on Saturday (8th March).  There was some superb singing – to the extent that all three of the Ladies’ Choirs were awarded an “Outstanding” grade!

There will be classes all next week…
A short programme is available.  You can download it here.

We are using a new grading scheme…
This is completely new – and must not be compared with anything that has been used in the past.
Read the new criteria here.

We are trying not to take your cash!
New banking arrangements make it far more difficult to deposit cash – we are trying (as far as possible) to take all payments by card (or phone, watch, signet ring or other contactless device).  It worked well on our first day;  please bring your card.

Withe the start of the 2025 Festival just over a week away (as I write), we are nearly ready.
The programmes are printed, the marksheets marshalled and the stewards sorted.

(Actually, the stewards are not all sorted – there are a number of sessions where we are short of volunteers to help welcome people or assist with some of the administative background to what will be a fabulous week of music-making. 
Do contact admin@skiptonmusicfestival.co.uk if you could lend a hand.)

A major task this year has been to contact around 40 different schools to obtain written Leave of Absence for our performers.  Another of those invisible jobs that lies behind the organising of an event like this!

To help you plan when you might visit us at Christ Church on Keighley Road, we have again produced a summary timetable which you can download here.

Short Programme 2025

Have you ever wondered why the all-metal saxophone belongs to the woodwind family?

Here is your chance to ask!  Led by the fabulous
Perfect Fourth quartet, Skipton Music Festival is offering a free workshop on Sunday 22nd September.

During the afternoon, you will have a first sight of the 2025 Festival Sullabus.  You will hear young Festival performers playing some of the pieces suggested for the March Festival – and there will be a recital by Perfect Fourth.

Not only is this all free – but I hear that there’s cake too!  Everyone is welcome – teachers and performers alike.  For more information, contact Kate Isaac 07967 097394

Sunday 22nd September at 2:30pm in Trinity Methodist Church, Westmoreland Street

The Annual General Meeting of the Skipton Music Festival Association will be held on

Friday 14th June at 7:30pm
It will take place in St Stephen’s Church Hall,
Castle View Terrace Skipton BD23 1NT

The meeting is open to all members of the public, but only members of the Association will be eligible to vote.  (In practical terms, members are the elected Trustees and those people who are over eighteen and registered as Friends of the Festival.)

The meeting will receive reports on the 2024 Festival, workshops that have taken place since the 2023 AGM and the financial state of the Festival.  The meeting will also hear of plans that are in process for the year ahead.

We look forward to meeting all members and others who are interested in the development of music in the Craven area.

Yes… The 2024 Festival is barely packed away – and we’re already beginning to plan for next year!
The 2025 Festival will take place at our very friendly venue of Christ Church on Keighley Road in Skipton.

We are booked in from
Saturday 8th March through to Saturday 15th March

The current plan is to kick off proceedings with our traditional Open Vocal classes on the 8th March and to bring the Festival to a close with our Gala Concert on the evening of Saturday 15th March.

The detail in between is being worked out as you read this!  Some of the classes fit best on particular days – and for the first time (ever, we think) we will be holding classes on Sunday afternoon.

All this is under discussion and all those who made entries this year have been invited to add their thoughts through an open questionnaire.  Join in if you have something useful to add – you’ll find it in the menu bar, “A consultation for 2025”, or click here.

By the time that the Syllabus is published in the autumn we hope to be able to publish a planned draft timetable.  We’ll not be able to stick rigidly to it because it will all boil down to exactly what entries come in but, as always, we’ll work hard to fit people in wherever possible!

Most of the piano classes this year will be taking place on Saturday 9th March and
will be held at Trinity Methodist Church – now called “Trinity St Andrews”.
(This is NOT the large church complex on Newmarket Street)

Trinity Church is in the block between Westmoreland Street and Duckett Street which both lead off Sackville Street.  The entrance is from Duckett Street.
The What3Words location for the entrance is https://w3w.co/notice.generals.tastings

Click the image to enlarge it:

Trinity is beautifully and recently re-ordered – and it has a delightful Yamaha Baby Grand piano.  We hope that this will, while providing a suitable instrument for some of our maestros, be a little less intimidating for some of the younger ones than the enormous bulk of the Festival Grand Piano in Christ Church.

Parking is not easy (just like Christ Church!) but you should find a space somewhere close.

As  many will know, we are working hard to finalise arrangements to hold the 2024 Festival under the requirements of Local Authority licensing.

These, along with a necessary shift of dates, mean that many classes are rearranged – and we already know that this will not suit some.  At least, next year, we will be able to plan further ahead!

The programme is all but complete and will go out to all entrants within the next few hours – though, until we actually receive our licence from the authorities, we cannot guarantee that the Festival can go ahead at all…  On the assumption that it will do, then the plan as published will go ahead; sadly, there is now no longer any wriggle-room.

• Almost all piano classes will be held on the excellent Yamaha baby grand at Trinity Methodist church on Saturday 9th March
• Adult vocal classes will be on the same day in Christ Church.
• There will be no individual classes in the mornings during the week; some school group classes can be held.
• The final concert will be on the evening of Friday 15th March

We’re thrilled to see entries for the March Festival arriving!  We’re also getting a few queries by phone and email.  If you have a problem, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

There’s a fairly full description of the booking process here
– but these are a few of the things that we’re getting asked:

I can’t log in (or find) the online entry site.

Any login information you used last year will not work!  We are using a new system called “Play and Perform”.  It’s a lot easier to administer – and the P&P people are brilliant at responding to our queries.  Your old RunMyFestival log in details are no longer relevant and you need to create a new account with Play and Perform.
Log in and register here: Play and Perform Booking Site

My entries seem to have disappeared.

As you create your entries, they collect in your basket.  When you complete that basket, you are given the option to pay, those entries are moved from the basket into “pending” till that payment is confirmed.   When you pay by BACS or cheque, that does not happen till we receive, either the cheque or a notification from you that you have paid online.  It’s not an entry yet – but there’s nothing more for you to do except to let us know you’ve paid.

A note about the basket.  It is a lot more work for us if you enter multiple entries with different baskets.  Try to gather them all into one basket and deal ith them all at once!

There’s nowhere to book the official accompanist.

There is now!  This was an omission on my part as we set up the syllabus.  It’s in place now and if you want to add that request to your entry, please log in again.  Select “View My Entries” and then click on the pencil on the left.   You need to select Yes or No to the question about the accompanist.

There are several classes for whom an accompanist is irrelevant (piano classes and folk songs come to mind).  You should not be asked the question for these but if you are, please just say “no”.  If you can point out my error by email, so much the better!

Just a few days to the online deadline!  Get your entries in as soon as you can!

(The paper copy deadline has PASSED!)

There’s a new (free!) Music Festival event in September.

All teachers, with their pupils along with parents and children are warmly invited to a Piano Afternoon at Trinity Methodist Church on Saturday 9th September.

There will be a series of workshops/masterclasses featuring performers from the 2023 Festival that will highlight the features of our new 2024 piano syllabus.

But it’s not just the workshops!

You will be the first to get your hands on this year’s new syllabus – and can sit back and enjoy a recital by the rising star, Josh Luxon-Robinson.
Josh has grown up through the classes at the Skipton Music Festival and is now reaching towards a professional career at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

(Not only that – there’s reputed to be tea and cake on offer as well!)

For more details, contact Kate Isaac on 07967 097394

Trinity Methodist Church is on Westmoreland Street in Skipton (BD23 2EA) and the afternoon will start at 2:30pm – and entry is free!

We have the wording of some of the classes slightly wrong…

Just to be clear…  All of the non-competitive classes (Classes 521 – 532) are open to solo performers as well as to duets/trios or small ensembles.

The price structure is set to reflect these choices in the appropriate age range.