The Ryleys have been celebrating another highly successful year at The Alderley Edge Festival, with talented youngsters picking up a grand total of 71 places across the music, speech and drama categories.
In the music sections, there were first places for the Chamber Choir, Junior Choir, Year 6 Choral Group and the Year 7 Choral Group. These all contributed to 12 top awards in total, with some outstanding solo performances across a range of instruments and vocally.
Following his second place in the Brass category, Oliver R, a Year 6 pupil, has been invited to take part in a masterclass with players from the prestigious Hallé Orchestra.
The Hallé has joined forces with the Alderley Edge Festival to nurture musical talent. Places for the masterclass have been offered to those entrants who, in the opinion of the adjudicators, will most benefit from the opportunity.
Director of Music Jenny Grant said "Oliver has been working incredibly hard with our peripatetic Brass specialist Stella Hughes. We have always believed that Oliver has a great talent and we're delighted that he will be benefitting from the masterclass with the Hallé Orchestra."
In the speech and drama categories, The Ryleys children picked up 13 first places, 4 of which also went to Oliver R. in Solo Drama, Solo Mime, Set Poem and My Favourite Poem.
Director of Music Jenny Grant said "Expectations are always high for our children as we have a long tradition of great achievement at the Festival. However, with record entrants and some fantastic talent on display, we really had to perform to the best of our ability to achieve these excellent results."
Annabel Anderson, Head of Speech & Drama added "We are so proud of all of our entrants in the Festival. To perform in front of an audience requires courage at any age, but as some of our competitors were just 6 years old, this really is a nerve-wracking experience. They all coped fantastically and to have achieved the Places is reward for their hard work."
Photos: Oliver R with one of his 4 first place awards.
