Music Festival 2025

The annual Music Festival attracted nearly 200 entries from pupils across the Senior School and Sixth Form, spanning Years 7 to 13. Many pupils showcased their dedication and musical talent by competing in multiple categories. Awards were presented across all year groups, with pupils receiving Winner, Runner-Up, and Highly Commended accolades in their respective categories. Their performances reflected both their commitment to musical excellence and the vibrant culture of creativity within the school.

Competitions were organised into three levels: Elementary (Grades 1–3), Intermediate (Grades 4–5), and Advanced (Grade 6+), ensuring a challenging and rewarding experience for all participants. Below, some of the participating pupils share their experiences of the festival.

Year 7 pupil Jerome received a Highly Commended award in the Advanced Strings category and reflected on his experience, saying: “It was quite an experience for me to perform a violin solo in the Senior School for the first time. As I practised for the final time before the performance, I felt nervous but excited. Walking up to the stage, I could feel my heart pounding, but it was an amazing sensation to share my love for the piece with the audience. Knowing I was performing for a friendly group of people was quite comforting. I chose Bach's Concerto No.1 in A minor because the structure is so clear and straightforward, making it easier to convey meaning through the semiquavers. The rhythms and melodies were perfect for carrying the audience through the movement. I am deeply grateful to my school and the dedicated staff for giving me the opportunity to perform and share my passion for music. Their support means a lot to me, and it made the experience even more memorable. I look forward to more performing opportunities!”

Year 7 pupil Byrne became the Winner in the Elementary Woodwind category and shared his thoughts on the achievement: “When I first received the information about the Music Festival, I was quite hesitant about signing up for the clarinet, since I had only just started to learn the instrument at the start of the academic year. I was scared about going against others who had more experience than me. However, after considering it for a while and a little bit of persuasion, I signed up. After that, I took care in regularly practising my piece ‘Promenade’ to almost perfection. I chose this song because it was one I could play very accurately with lots of variety, expressing how it sounded. On the day of the Music Festival the time came for my name to be called out: I took a deep breath and aced my piece. The results were read out, and my heart jumped when I heard my name: I was ecstatic.”

Year 11 pupil Tom earned the Runner-Up position in both the Senior Brass and Vocal classes, commenting on his performance: “What an honour to have had the opportunity to participate in the 2025 Music Festival. Participating in three different categories, Senior School Brass, Vocal and Ensemble, I was able to push my limits as a Musician, and learn so much from the other participants. Brass was my first event of the day, in which I performed Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto. Having enjoyed playing the trumpet for over 7 years, this is the piece that I have grown most fond of as I have loved playing this at events and auditions in the past, so it has a special meaning to me. For my second class, Senior School Vocal, I performed “Stars”, from the musical based on Victor Hugo’s ‘Les Misérables’. I can accredit this choice of song to my experience playing in the school orchestra at MGS’s recent production of the play, and hearing the fantastic vocal performances of the students involved. This production led me to start singing lessons just three weeks before the Music Festival. Going into the Vocal Class with a lack of experience singing in front of an audience was certainly a daunting thought to begin with. Although ,when the time came, I found that the audience only added to the enjoyment I received from performing. Being relatively new to singing, I was overjoyed with my position of Runner-Up in this class, and was pleased to have the chance to listen to and learn from the other participants. My final class of the day, and possibly the most challenging, was the Ensemble class. I continued the theme of ‘Les Misérables‘, performing “The Confrontation”. This vocal duet truly challenged me, as it required absolute focus on rhythm and interaction with the other vocalist. What I found particularly interesting was the contrast between the two characters, and indeed between the other vocalist and I. I want to say a special thanks to all the hard work from the Music Staff that made this possible, the opportunity to participate again next year is exciting and I cannot wait to see the other talented performers again!”

Year 7 pupil Jasper claimed victory in the Intermediate Woodwind category and spoke about his success: “It was great to play Hackensack by Thelonius Monk on my clarinet and win the Intermediate Woodwind category now that I am in the Senior School. Last year when I was in the Junior School, I was runner up in the Elementary category so it feels great to progress. I enjoy performing and have played as part of ensembles and Concert Band but this provided a great opportunity to rehearse and play as an individual. The clarinet was the first instrument I had lessons on, starting in year 4. I now also play the bassoon and may enter the festival playing that in the future.”

Year 7 pupil Daemyn was recognised as Runner-Up in the Elementary Woodwind category for his performance. He said: “I chose March of the Guinea Pigs because it is a happy and peaceful song. I started learning the clarinet only four months ago, and before that, I had never played any musical instruments. When I decided to join the Music Festival, I wanted to pick a cheerful song. At first, practising was not easy. There was one part of the song that I found really difficult. I knew that other students at school were all very talented, so I worked even harder to improve. On the day of the festival, before I was going to perform, I felt really nervous. It was my first time performing in front of a crowd, and I was worried I might make a mistake. However, once I began playing, I found that my nerves eased significantly, allowing me to relax and fully engage with the performance. In the end, I was proud of myself for trying my best!”

Year 7 pupil Arjo achieved Runner-Up in the Elementary Strings category and expressed his thoughts on the competition: “This year was my first time taking part in the Music Festival. I performed in the Elementary Violin category, playing one of my exam pieces—Da Rode to Møre by Tom Anderson. I chose this piece because I felt it was the one I played best. I was awarded second place, which I think is a great result for my first competition. I see it as a strong start for future Music Festivals. In the weeks leading up to the competition, regular practice was essential. Since it was an exam piece, I made sure to practise almost every day for around 20 minutes. On the day of the festival, I knew some of my classmates were also competing, and a few of them placed second and third in their categories. My performance was scheduled for Period 5, so I took my violin and headed to M2. There were fewer competitors than I expected, but the standard was high, making it a good challenge.I was the first to perform. As I played, I thought it sounded quite good, though there were a few notes slightly out of place. After everyone had finished, we received feedback, and thankfully, there were no major issues with my performance. When the results were announced, I was really pleased to have achieved second place. Overall, the Music Festival was a fantastic opportunity to showcase my skills, and placing near the top made it even better. Hopefully, next year, I can aim for that gold!”

Year 7 pupil Evan won Intermediate Strings and said: “During the music festival, I preformed Over the Sea to the Sky on the Harp by Meinir Heulyn. I chose this beautiful piece because I thought it would be a nice performance piece, and it would be a good song to showcase in the Music Festival. The music festival in the senior school happens to be a lot different than I expected. The Music Festival is a great way to have fun playing your instrument and show off your progress that you have made and your style that you play your instrument, especially if you play are rare instrument that most people don’t play at MGS. I find the harp to be a great performance instrument to play at concerts or competitions. Everyone in my category performed very well. The adjudicator was positive about everyone’s performances, and he gave out some good advice to everyone. I am extremely happy about my performance and everyone else should feel the same way too!”

Year 11 pupil James was Highly Commended in Advanced Woodwind and Vocal Class, saying: “I really enjoyed this year’s music festival – it was such a lovely event. We were very fortunate to have three adjudicators with us – including an Old Mancunian Rees Webster, who is an international concert Oboist. I took part in the Advanced Woodwind and Vocal classes and the Ensemble class with my friend Tom, and received Highly Commended in the first two. I chose to perform the first movement of Brahms’ second clarinet sonata, and sing Gethsemane from the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. I chose this sonata for its graceful melody and is one of few where the solo instrument and piano are on an such an equal footing and have such complex harmonic dialogue. My vocal piece was more of a challenge – one of my friends had suggested it to me and it really tested the upper limits of my range and I am grateful for the performance experience of this. Tom and I sang The Confrontation from Les Misérables for our ensemble piece after singing it for fun – we were both involved in the School’s production of the musical in October and wanted to give some other parts a try. The standard across all the festival was very high and I was introduced to some new pieces by the other competitors – we had the world première of a piece in the Advanced Piano class. I would like to thank all of the adjudicators, accompanists and music staff for the event, in particular Mrs Pozniak for the hours of planning and organisation that it involves – we really appreciate it.”

Year 12 pupil Riccardo was delighted to emerge as the Winner in both the Advanced Piano and Organ classes, saying: “Playing in the  MGS Music Festival has been a great experience for me, as it has been for several past years. This year I decided to play Rachmaninov’s opus32 no10 Prelude for the Advanced Piano class and Kenneth Leighton’s opus72 no1 Fantasy “Helmsley” for the Organ. The Rachmaninov has beautiful harmonies and a slow emotional pace while the Leighton is full of dissonant and bright sounds; I have enjoyed learning both of these pieces, and I was very glad I had the opportunity to perform them. Since these two pieces are for different instruments, I ended up playing in two separate categories: advanced piano and advanced organ. Playing in multiple categories gave me the chance to listen to several talented musicians while also giving me the chance to perform on multiple instruments. Obviously, performing in multiple categories meant that I had to practice a lot more beforehand, but in the end it paid off. I have played the piano for over 10 years, the organ for over 5 years, and have listened to music ever since I was born. From a young age, the piano intrigued me, which led me to start learning the instrument at around 5 years old. Over the years I developed a stronger passion for the piano until eventually, when I was around 9-10 years old, I really started to take it more seriously and started doing lots of concerts and competitions. Slightly later, I met my organ teacher at MGS who showed me what an amazing instrument the organ is, leading me to start learning it. Playing these instruments has been a massive part of my life, and will continue to be. I am very thankful for my Piano & Organ teachers as well as the Royal Northern College of Music for giving me a chance to study music at such a high level. And most importantly, I am very thankful to MGS for all the great musical opportunities over the years: playing in school ensembles, festivals and various school concerts, and of course for learning a lot from all the great MGS music department’s teachers.”

Well done to all pupils for their hard work and dedication!