VIRTUAL FESTIVAL 2021

INSPIRATION THROUGH PERFORMANCE

Thank you to all the performers, parents, teachers and visitors to
the VIRTUAL COULSDON AND PURLEY FESTIVAL for their kind words.

"CONGRATULATIONS to Coulsdon and Purley Festival for harnessing the technology and making
the Festival experiences so personal and enjoyable for the entrants"

"Congratulations to all the Festival committee for making the Festival as 'live' as possible with immediate feedback from the adjudicator."

"My daughter was so inspired after her lovely feedback from the adjudicator, she was spurred on to play La Cumparsita in the garden! Thank you for all your efforts and please pass on our gratitude to everyone who has freely given up their time to create this opportunity."

"I am so happy I took part - it was super enjoyable and I think I'll enter next year too!"

"We loved the festival!"

"The festival was superbly organised and I'd like to say thank you to you and everyone involved. I felt the online system of Zoom and YouTube ran incredibly smoothly and it was a delight to take part."

"I was very impressed with the presentation of the Festival online. I can imagine it must have been a huge challenge and enormous hard work, but I know that all my students really appreciated being able to hear others in their class and receive all the most helpful and inspiring comments of the adjudicator in real time. Thank you so much."

"P is just a gem. He is so kind and has made all our students feel 10 feet tall. Some of them were very nervous this morning but I encouraged them to get their adjudication because he is so good, building their confidence by telling them all the things they did right, which they might not even have noticed, then tips for improving for next time. They are all winners in his book."

"Thank you for organising such a wonderful event to keep our children engaged with their music and to give them something to look forward to."

"I just wanted to say how well organised an executed the festival was yesterday. Such a great outlet for all those young musicians to work towards!"

"Another wonderful and encouraging adjudicator this year, who engaged brilliantly with the participants."

"It was my first time attending the Festival and I found it to be such a valuable experience - not only to help improve my performance in the future, but to also hear people who share a similar interest."

"I was so excited to be involved in the Festival. It gave me a chance to showcase what I have been working on which has given me a big confidence boost for the future."

"I wanted to email and say thank you for organising such an impressive festival and a piano section! I was so happy that this could happen remotely for the kids and give them an opportunity to practice for something and I think it all seemed to come off so well with the YouTube stream and live feedback sessions. I thought the piano adjudicator was incredibly thoughtful and comprehensive in his feedback and really spent time trying to give the kids some pointers on how to improve. My son thoroughly enjoyed it!"

"What a superb weekend of events. We loved every minute of it! A little different being online this year but it was managed so professionally - everything worked perfectly."

"It was a wonderful experience to participate in the festival, especially in these tough times."

"I really enjoyed taking part. It's always nice to get feedback on how I performed and ways to improve it."

"Just felt I must say how very much I enjoyed listening to the wealth of younger singers this afternoon. My goodness, the standard is so high and it was such a pleasure to be able to watch all this young talent."

"Thank you for organising. The online piano section ran really smoothly and we really appreciated the detailed, specific feedback from L. It was really helpful and given in a way that will definitely improve H’s playing.
Thanks so much."

"We had a lovely time listening to everyone on Sunday, You are all to be commended for a smooth transition into the digital performance world. It was well run and my child thoroughly enjoyed being able to participate. We cannot wait until we are all back in person to see everyone perform live!"

I just wanted to congratulate you all on a marvellous and rewarding Festival. It must have taken a lot of work to put it all together and we really appreciated it. My young girls 6 and 8, were able to enjoy listening to more classes than normal, due to the more relaxed atmosphere of sitting on the sofa and occasionally passing comment on the repertoire and bow holds etc."

"Thanks so much to you and all the organisers for giving the children the opportunity to perform. It's very much appreciated."

"I think it is great that these events continue throughout lockdown, giving the children something to work on."

"Thank you so much for today and in anticipation of another festival day tomorrow! We really enjoyed it -listening to others play 'live' and to hear K's really positive adjudication."

"Dear wonderful music festival.
I am just writing to thank you for your enormous hard work in producing such a wonderful opportunity for string players during lockdown. My pupils learnt so much from the experience and we were all so impressed with the high standard of string playing in all classes which surely bodes well for the next generation of string players."

"Thank you for all your hard work in running of the Festival. We felt it was a really well organised and enjoyable experience for our children. They certainly gained a lot of valuable insight out of the experience. The live feedback made a big difference L is a brilliant adjudicator, communicated with warmth and positivity while isolating point of improvement. We feel he is one of the best adjudicators we have come across!"

Thank you for your encouragement to enter the Coulsdon and Purley Festival. We were pleasantly surprised at how well the musical festival transferred online. It was well organised and ran efficiently. Please pass on my thanks to K who adjudicated so well and was absolutely spot on in pitching her feedback. She was so encouraging and positive and gave the right amount of advice on the next step for the children to focus their practise. Not too much information but always some useful tips to think about. I found it really quite moving the way she applauded the children in persevering in their practise throughout all the lockdowns and was generous in her markings - it has been difficult to push and cajole the children to practise! Our boys felt quite chuffed by the end of the festival as they were both rather reluctant to enter in the first place. Many thanks for all you and your colleagues hard work in putting together the festival and keeping it going in these challenging circumstances."

FOR MORE PHOTOS CLICK HERE FOR GALLERY 2021