43rd Annual Music Festival 2023

Yesterday (8th March), the 43rd TBSHS Annual House Music Festival came to an exciting conclusion when Jonny Brewer from Year 13 won the coveted title of Musician of the Year 2023.

Over the last two weeks, we have enjoyed a fantastic festival of music with every category of instrument covered leading to Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced Level players competing to be part of the Finalé concert.

Eight categories of instrument; Voice, Brass, Strings, Drums, Woodwind,  Classical Guitar, Contemporary Guitar, and Piano, across all levels of proficiency, produced 150 individual performances which were whittled down to one from each instrument, arranged into three finals for Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced Musicians.

“Music at the Bishop’s Stortford High School is alive and well.” – Max Kenworthy, Adjudicator 2023

The Finalé concert represents the hard work and dedication of our talented students here at The Bishop’s Stortford High School. We are incredibly proud of the levels of perseverance and preparation that the students have committed to this event, and you will no doubt enjoy the benefits of that this evening. The level of competition this year has been truly outstanding, with many of the heats going through fairly tense adjudication processes. We have been impressed and proud of the responses of both students who won and those who just missed out. They have supported and encouraged each other and the whole competition has taken place in a spirit of togetherness and celebration.

Finally, thank you to all of the 150+ students who have brought the music festival to life this year. We have witnessed some truly exceptional performances of course, but we take just as much pride in those students who have performed for the first time, those who have overcome reticence and nerves, and those who have performed not necessarily to win but to contribute, take part and celebrate the musical life of the school.

After an exciting performance by the School’s Swing Band, Adjudicator Max Kenworthy had the difficult job of choosing an overall winner. Following detailed and constructive feedback to each performer, Jonny Brewer on drums, was awarded the coveted title.  Congratulations!

The Winners of the Finals were –

Beginner Finals

• Commended – Samuel Jurd
• Highly Commended – Joseph Page
• Winner – Finnian O’Reilly

Intermediate

• Commended – James Slocombe
• Highly Commended – Kevin Halder
• Winner – James Frans

Evening Finalé

• Commended – David Badcock
• Highly Commended – Joe Lee
• Winner – Jonny Brewer

(Click on the programme below to see the full table of results over the last two weeks)