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2018 Festival review
The audience at New Milton Music Festival's annual Gala Concert were left in no doubt that the area is home to an incredible variety and calibre of musical talent.
Performers on the night included Rosie Gill, a young harpist and regular festival participant who gave a truly magical performance of La Source, and violinist Isabelle Stevens whose rendition of Weiniawski's Obertass Mazurka was breath-taking.
The concert also featured wonderful solo performances by pianists Reuben Donvito and James Salter, recorder player Rebecca Todd, cellist Jemima Hughes, vocalist Madison Goult, flautist Louise Bach, drummer Edyth Shinn, tuba player Jake Bartlett and trumpeter Jackson Taylor.
The evening's entertainment was completed with group performances by the Ballard Harp Ensemble, Ballard Brass, the Walhampton School Chapel Choir, Go Bananas, and Ben Nealon and Bethany Cooper who played a guitar duet.
In a departure from tradition, the concert was hosted by the multi-talented team of Jack and Ella Whettingsteel.
The festival piano classes were held at Durlston Court School and The Arnewood School, with competitors ranging in age and ability from beginners to grade 8 and beyond.
The New Milton, New Forest and Highcliffe Rotary clubs, the Lions Club and New Milton Town Council provided vital support and sponsorship, while festival chairman Simon Crutch, Linda Harland and the rest of the committee worked tirelessly behind the scenes.
Special thanks went to the hardy car park attendants at Arnewood who not only had to deal with limited parking space this year but who also had to contend with the unexpected Arctic weather conditions!
Photographs of the festival were taken by Jim Pascoe of Jim Pascoe Photography and copes can be downloaded from www.jimpascoephotography.zenfolio.com/musicfestival.
