Dear Parents, Teachers, Performers and Friends
Welcome to the Syllabus for Skipton Music Festival 2024! I really hope you can find something to inspire you, your pupils, your choir, your ensemble – in fact anyone with whom you have the joy of making music!
As always, there’s a wide range of both competitive and non-competitive classes. You know that Skipton is noted for being a friendly Festival and this year’s Adjudicator, Donal McCrisken, comes highly recommended! We welcome back Tim Kennedy as our Official Accompanist for the majority of the week; a new friend is Catherine Hall-Smith, who will accompany the adult vocal classes. Please note that these classes will be held on Saturday 9th March, which is earlier than normal. The end of Festival Gala Concert will be on Friday 15th March (not on the Saturday).
We are using a new online entry program this year, which is proving much more user-friendly. It does mean you’ll have to put in your performers again but it’s easy to navigate. As always, if you need to use the paper form, that’s fine too – though you must get your entries in a week earlier!
Do please pass on the Syllabus to friends and acquaintances who might be interested in performing either in an adult (Open) class or a Junior class. We really look forward to welcoming many performers, be they soloists, bands of all shapes and sizes and, of course, choirs! We have managed to keep our fees as they were last year, but as you’ll realise, we need to encourage a really good number of entries to enable us to continue. We’re hoping very much that we can welcome back brass and string players – we know there are youngsters learning these instruments and the Festival is an ideal and unthreatening way to introduce them to performance.
As always, we look forward to welcoming performers and friends old and new. Without your support, the Skipton Music Festival will not survive – a fate which has befallen Festivals in our Region already. Please don’t let that happen – use it, or lose it!
I look forward to seeing you in March 2024.
Jill Wright
Hon Sec