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BLACKPOOL
FESTIVAL is a
Registered Charity and affiliated to the
BRITISH
& INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION of FESTIVALS for Music, Dance & Speech.
Founded in 1901 as Blackpool Musical Festival, the event soon became
pre-eminent in the field of competitive music festivals, drawing entries from
all over the country and achieving national recognition.
As well as its intrinsic qualities, it had the exclusive use of the
Winter Gardens, providing an unrivalled venue, especially for choirs and
orchestras. Social conditions and entertainment patterns have changed and the
competitive festival is no longer the audience attraction it was between the
wars, but the festival movement continues to be very strong in the educational
field, and is unique in providing a platform for young performers at all levels
as well as for the adult amateur musician.
The Festival has
been an annual event in Blackpool, with the exception of the years of two World
Wars, since 1901, and the week of competitions attracts performers aged from six
to sixty plus from all over the country. Speech and Drama was added in the
Sixties and Dance became part of the event in 1999.The Festival Council also
arranges educational and entertaining events throughout the year. As a result of
these activities the Festival still has the reputation of being one of the most
prestigious of its kind in the
United Kingdom
.
The Festival movement is the largest organisation in the
United Kingdom
to support the amateur arts, not only music but speech, drama and dance, and
the Blackpool Festival is among the oldest in the country. In the present
educational climate of constant assessment and labelling, festivals still exist
purely for the joy of performance. The competitive element is there, but
adjudication these days is about advice and encouragement. The opportunity
regularly to perform at different venues throughout the region and the country
celebrates the immediacy and joy of live performance which examinations,
assessments and labelling can so easily discourage in young people.
The annual costs of around £10,000 are incurred entirely for the benefit
of the participants covering professional fees for adjudicators and
accompanists, printing costs, hire of premises and pianos, stationery and
postage. All the not inconsiderable
organizational time is provided on a totally voluntary basis.
In its earliest years the adult vocal competitions were pre-eminent and to
win the Rose Bowl at Blackpool was the first step up the professional ladder for
many who went on to grace other platforms in opera houses and theatres both
nationally and internationally.
Singer John Lawrenson from Fleetwood was launched on his career when he
won the award in 1953 and Blackpool-born clarinettist Colin Bradbury was able to
become a student at the Royal College of Music as a result of winning a
Scholarship in 1951.
Among many famous contemporary performers who were offered many of their
first performance opportunities at the Festival are singers Amanda Roocroft and
Jane Irwin – recently appearing together in Madame Butterfly at the Royal
Opera House –pianist Andrew Wilde (a Festival Vice-President) and actress
Joanne Whalley formerly married to Val Kilmer.
Many others have gone on to teach at the highest levels in our schools and
conservatoires and a former piano-duet partner of the Festival’s Chairman is
Elaine Padmore who is presently Director of Opera at the Royal Opera House.
A sustained
search of the Festival Archive would undoubtedly reveal many more.
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