Colchester Rotary Festival of Music
About
The Colchester Rotary Festival of Music provides a performance platform for aspiring amateur musicians with supportive feedback from professional adjudicators in a friendly atmosphere.The Festival began in 1991 as the Colchester Rotary Music Festival. It was originally organised and funded by three Rotary Clubs in Colchester. There was a strong link to Colchester Institute from the start with the Head of Music, Bill Tamblyn, and the Principal, John Threlfall on the committee. There were different adjudicators for each instrument the majority of whom were staff at the School of Music. The final concert took place at the Moot Hall on the 13th July 1991. From its outset the Festival has been affiliated to the British Federation of Festivals.
The Festival is a competitive festival with a wide range of classes organised by 'grade' of entrant. Each participant gets a written adjudication and the first three in each class are awarded Gold, Silver or Bronze medals. The adjudicators are always chosen from the British and International Federation specialist adjudicators. This ensures that the quality of the feedback is of the highest standard and that the running of the Festival is compliant with all of the national standards. Adjudicators are also always from out of the Essex/Suffolk area to ensure that there are no conflicts of interest.
The Music Festival runs in March.
The Festival is now run entirely by the Rotary Club of Colchester. It is a non-profit event and one of the major projects that the club undertakes each year alongside its charitable work in the local area and around the world. It takes a lot of people to make each Festival happen.