Following the cancellation of the Alderley Edge Festival of Music, Speech & Drama in both 2020 and 2021, due to the covid pandemic, the committee has been working hard to deliver a return which they promise to be better than ever.
The theme for next year's Festival will be Her Majesty the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, with a new logo and several new classes including: non-competitive choral and instrumental classes; Slam poetry classes; and an open class where performers of any age are invited to give an after dinner speech which honours our longest serving monarch.
Newly elected Chairperson, Amanda Brabban-Brown said: "Having been started over 100 years ago, making it one of the oldest Festivals in the country, it was a very difficult decision to cancel not just once, but twice. Thousands of participants come to the village every May to take part in one or more of over 140 music and drama classes and we know they have missed performing as much as we have missed hosting them.
"At our recent Annual General Meeting we welcomed several new committee members onboard and we are all very excited to launch our Syllabus for next year's Festival, which will be held from 4th-7th May in various venues around the village."
The Festival has classes for all ages; there are classes for solo singers, choirs, instrumentalists, actors, public-speaking, performance poets and more.
Every performer receives a written appraisal from one of the professional adjudicators who are all experts in their fields. It truly is a joyful occasion; giving children and adults the opportunity to perform in front of a live audience can be a transformative experience in terms of their self-confidence.
Amanda added "Of course, to run a Festival of this size (which regularly attracts over 2000 individual performers) requires a great deal of help from our army of volunteer stewards. If you could spare a morning, afternoon or evening during Festival week to help us run this event please contact our Stewards Co-ordinator, Alison Lees at [email protected].
For more information and to view the syllabus see alderleyedgefestival.com.
