Bedfordshire Festival of Music, Speech and Drama

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Bedfordshire Festival of Music, Speech and Drama

The Bedfordshire Festival of Music, Speech and Drama provides a showcase for the wealth of talent in the amateur performing arts in the area.

22/04/2025

Although the Festival was only a few weeks ago, we're already looking at planning the 2026 syllabus and we'd love to have some feedback from you!

If you have any thoughts on how we can improve the Festival for future years, or there's anything you'd like to see on our syllabus please do fill in this form:

https://tinyurl.com/4dwmsf4n

Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you!

19/04/2025

Our final performers in our Gala Concert series are Zac Perry and Mila Manovic who performed their class-winning duologue in the Junior Speech and Drama category.

Zac and Mila both attend and 2025 was the first time they had competed at the Bedfordshire Festival. They are both new to the world of Speech and Drama and at that point had only been working together for about four months.

Earlier this year they performed in Macbeth at The Place Theatre in Bedford and in the summer are both appearing in Bugsy Malone, at BMS, where Zac is playing the role of Bugsy.

Thank you for sharing your work with us at our Gala Concert and we do hope you'll be back again in 2026!

17/04/2025

Today we shine a spotlight on another of our Gala Concert performers, the talented young pianist, Elly Yau.

Elly is in Year 7 at Hitchin Girls’ School and has been playing the piano since she was just 5 years old, taking up the violin shortly afterwards.

We were delighted to hear Elly play her class-winning solo, Puck by Edward Grieg, at our Gala Concert - a truly mesmerising performance.

Congratulations Elly!

15/04/2025

We were delighted to welcome the Sharnbrook Primary Music Club to our Gala Concert to share two of the songs that won them first place in the Year 6 and under Junior Choirs class.

The Sharnbrook Primary Music Club is an afterschool club for Key Stage 2 Children which not only includes singing, but also encourages the children to explore and enjoy music more generally, from composing their own pieces to playing music games. At the end of the year, the club combines everything they have learned to put on a performance at the Mill Theatre in Sharnbrook.

The children performed brilliantly at our concert and were awarded a special prize on the night – the Bedford Choral Society prize for the most promising choir of the Festival.

Congratulations Sharnbrook Primary, we hope you'll be back again in 2026!

12/04/2025

Performing at our Gala Concert in the Senior Music category was Polly Taylor who shared her winning musical theatre singing solo.

Polly is about to complete her training with and is in Year 13 at Bedford Girls' School and was delighted to finish her final Festival by singing at the Gala Concert both as a soloist and with her choir, Bel Canto.

And what a way to end her Festival experience - Polly was selected by the adjudicators to win the prestigious Swan Hotel Rose Bowl for the most outstanding senior music performance of the Festival. Congratulations Polly, a fabulous achievement!

10/04/2025

The next of our Gala Concert performers is Lily Robertson, who performed her 'Scene from Musical Theatre' piece in the Senior Speech and Drama category.

Lily is in her final year at Bedford Girls’ School and attends the where she is working towards her Grade 8 in Musical Theatre and Acting. She is currently in the middle of auditions for performing arts universities as she hopes to pursue a career in musical theatre before one day owning her own performing arts school.

Thank you, Lily, for sharing this hilarious piece with us in this, your final Festival!

08/04/2025

The next in our Gala Concert performer series is John Burden who delighted our audience with a performance of his hugely entertaining, class-winning singing solo - The Elephant by Flanders and Swann.

Having started singing in his school days, John has enjoyed singing solos and in choirs and smaller groups throughout this life, covering a range of genres from classical to musical theatre and Barbershop.

He is currently singing with the Orpheus Choir and St Katharine’s Singers in Hitchin, and when he is not putting his vocal talents to good use, John spends his well-earned retirement researching family history.

Thank you for performing this charming song, John, it was a joy to watch!

05/04/2025

The next performers to be featured in our Gala Concert series are Jessica Holland and Isla Hartwell who shared the piece that won them first place in the Year 7-8 Duologues class.

Jessica is 12 and attends the Sylvia Young Theatre School and Isla is 11 and attends Lincroft Academy, and together they train with the where they take part in a variety of different dance, singing and drama classes.

The girls went on to win the Jane Whitbread Cup for Junior Speech and Drama that evening - a fantastic achievement! Well done girls, we hope to welcome you back in 2026!

03/04/2025

Next in our gallery of Gala Concert performers is saxophonist, Hugo Hodgson, who shared his class-winning solo with our delighted audience.

Hugo is in his final year at and has been learning the saxophone for 8 years under the guidance of his teacher, Mr Childs. He has already achieved his Grade 8 and will be taking his ATCL Diploma this summer.

Congratulations on a fantastic final festival, Hugo! And thank you for performing for us once again. 🤩

01/04/2025

We continue our Gala Concert photo series this morning with image of a performance from Gloria Leung who shared her class-winning musical theatre solo - One Perfect Moment from Bring It On.

Gloria is a student at Camborne Village College who has been singing since she was just 4 years old and we were delighted to present her with the Elaine Bonas prize which is given each year to the most promising young singer in the Festival. Congratulations, Gloria!

31/03/2025

Olivia and Georgia brought the trophy they won at Bedfordshire Festival of Music, Speech and Drama earlier this month in the wind duets class to rehearsal tonight. Congratulations!!!

29/03/2025

We're delighted to be able to share photos of our next talented Gala Concert performer, 15-year old cellist, Finn Bantock.

Finn is a student at Bedford school and has been playing the cello since the age of 5. Since he began his training, he has attended masterclasses at the Menuhin School and was invited to attend the Open Strings Festival in Demark on two occasions. He has also recently won the Toddington Young Musician of the Year competition.

Finn joined us at the Gala Concert as part of the Junior Music category to share his class-winning cello solo, Hungarian Rhapsody by David Popper.

Congratulations on a fantastic Festival, Finn! We hope to welcome you back in 2026 🤩

27/03/2025

Our next performer to feature in our Gala Concert series is Evie Backhurst who shared her class-winning verse speaking solo in the Junior Speech and Drama category. Earlier in the week, Evie had been awarded a very rare 'Exceptional' classification for her ‘Write and Read a Story’ entry.

Evie is in Year 5 at Thurleigh Primary School and trains with the , and in her spare time loves all sorts of creative hobbies including playing the piano, composing her own music, singing, reading as many books as possible, and dancing.

We were delighted that Evie could join us to share her poem, and we hope she enjoyed her Festival experience. Well done Evie! 🤩

25/03/2025

The next in our series of Gala performers is Daisy Loft who returned to the Corn Exchange stage to share her Shakespeare solo as part of the Senior Speech and Drama programme.

Daisy is studying for her A Levels at Kimberley College and trains with the where she’s preparing for her LAMDA musical theatre and acting exams this summer.

Daisy tells us that she loves the Festival because she learns valuable lessons that help her to grow as a performer, she loves to experience the talent of all her fellow participants and to have the chance to share her own work. Daisy, in fact, took part in an impressive 7 different drama classes at this year’s Festival – that’s a lot of different pieces to learn, so we take our hat off to you, Daisy.

Daisy's performance at the Gala concert led to her winning both the Borough of Bedford Challenge Bowl for Senior Speech and Drama and the Woodfine Lousada prize for the best overall Speech and Drama performance.

Congratulations Daisy on your fabulous success, we hope to welcome you back in 2026! 🤩

22/03/2025

The next of our Gala performers is Charlie Eggleton who was awarded an extremely rare 'Exceptional' classification for his Shakespeare solo which he performed for us again at the Gala concert.

This was Charlie’s last year of performing at the Bedfordshire Festival as, after 10 years of competing here, he will complete his training at the and finish his A Levels at Bedford School this summer before embarking on his next adventure.

Thank you for sharing this piece with us, Charlie, and we look forward to seeing what your next chapter holds!

20/03/2025

Another of the perfomers at this year's Gala Concert was the fantastic Bel Canto Choir from , winners of the coveted Bedford Choral Society Cup.

As an auditioned choir, Bel Canto from Bedford Girls’ School boasts its most experienced and promising singers, covering a wide range of musical styles from Renaissance to Jazz and pop, and is focused on developing advanced skills in choral singing.

Conducted by Naomi Jones, Bel Canto reached the final of the Girls’ School Association Choir of the Year in 2024 and will be singing alongside singers from Bedford School in a performance of ‘The Girl from Aleppo’ by Cecilia McDowall, when the eminent composer visits the school in early May for a celebration of choral music.

Congratulations to Bel Canto on your success, we hope to welcome you again in 2026!

17/03/2025

We're delighted to be able to share photos from our 2025 Gala Concert, starting with these images of 10 year old violinist, Alice Cumberbatch.

Alice currently attends the Royal College of Music Junior Department and this September she will be joining the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin School of Music.

She presented her class-winning violin solo at the Gala Concert and won three awards that evening, including the Melville prize for the most promising Festival performer who is in year 9 or below, the Woodfine Lousada Challenge Cup for Junior Music, and the Woodfine Lousada Cup for the most outstanding Music Performance.

Congratulations Alice, it was a pleasure to hear you play and we hope to welcome you back in 2026!

📸

12/03/2025

Thank you to another lovely mummy who has emailed in to tell us about her children's experiences at the Festival!

"Perrie (Year 3) and Dustin (Reception) both got chosen to enter the solo poems and both got second place! It was all very well organised, the judges (and everyone involved) were so good with the children.

"The confidence of everyone we saw was incredible, and the encouragement to continue to build on their skills was priceless. They both really enjoyed themselves and want to do it all again next year!"

Well done Perrie and Dustin, we can't wait to see you again in 2026! 🤩

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