THE music director of Ellesmere College has celebrated the 2024 Oswestry Youth Music Festival as his ‘favourite year ever’ following a stack of wins.

The festival, in its 47th year, saw a record 525 entries involving about 1,000 young musicians from 40 schools across Shropshire and North Wales – with Ellesmere College collecting 20 first places.

And for Tony Coupe, he believes it was the spirit of the festival that made it particularly stand out this year, which bred confidence and brought out the best in everyone.

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He said: “The atmosphere this year was so encouraging – powerful performances with adjudicators who were passionate advocates for youth music, encouraging young people to take part and express themselves.

“It was a delight to see the care and support that our students show, not just to one another, but also in supporting students from other schools.

“A great performance of music connects with the audience, expressing something that can move the listener – when Olivia and Isobel Philbin performed My Love My Life, from Mamma Mia 2, many people were swept up in the moment – the voices grew in intensity, resonance and emotion leaving half the audience and one of the girls in tears.

“The thought that young people can produce this kind of moment is awe-inspiring – sometimes performances transcend the process of adjudication in a festival.

“It was such a memorable festival and a privilege to see our students performing with joy and demonstrating such bravery and skill. Young people are inspiring!”

To accommodate the higher number of entries this year, organisers added an extra evening to the festival, running from Tuesday, February 27 to Saturday, March 2 with the finals’ concert taking place the following day at Christ Church.

The festival featured 88 competitive classes ranging from solo instrumental and vocal to orchestras, rock bands, choirs and musical theatre ensembles, and five new classes were introduced this year for singers aged 13 and under.

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There were rock bands performing songs by the Killers and Evanescence to instrumental ensembles performing In the Hall of the Mountain King and Crocodile Rock; and from choirs performing Bridge Over Troubled Water and Frozen Heart to a huge range of musical theatre and classical music solos.

Mr Coupe added: “Anyone thinking of taking part in a music festival, my advice would be to absolutely go for it.

“You get the opportunity to get valuable performing experience and get quality feedback - it is well worth it.”