Horsham Performers Platform provides supportive environment for youngsters

The Horsham Performers Platform, a Broadbridge Heath based event providing the opportunity for young musicians to perform and be given feedback, culminated on Saturday, July 11, with a concert showcasing some of the stand-out performances of the week.
By Charlotte Ellis
Published 16th Jul 2015, 17:13 BST
Horsham Performers Platform at St Johns Church, Broadbridge Heath. Picture by Jon RigbyHorsham Performers Platform at St Johns Church, Broadbridge Heath. Picture by Jon Rigby
Horsham Performers Platform at St Johns Church, Broadbridge Heath. Picture by Jon Rigby

The relatively new music festival was founded (and is run each year) by musicians Kay Tucker, Rachel Ellis and Rosemary Hensor and is now in its sixth year.

Throughout this time it has grown enormously, from a modest two-day event to a full week. However, it retains its desire to provide a friendly, supportive and non-competitive environment, where no prizes or trophies are awarded but the contribution of each performer is celebrated.

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Despite this, adjudicators at the festival, professionals specialising in this kind of music education, were asked to select the five most compelling performances of their category – either woodwind and brass, voice, piano, or strings – to perform at the celebration concert.

The concert saw an enormous range of musicians, aged between 6 and 18, present hugely diverse but equally engaging performances, ranging from the seven-year-old Suzannah Clark, who presented a delightful short recital programme of cello pieces, to 15-year-old Emma Brownless, who closed the concert with the flashy Loreta Caprice by Gomez.

The concert was well-attended by parents and families along with members of the community and MP for Horsham Jeremy Quin, along with town councillor Leonard Crosbie.