2025 Festival Report by Stella Redburn
- selmf1
- Sep 1
- 2 min read
2025 has been a successful year for the festival. All our events were well attended and once again the atmosphere was competitive and intense but warm and friendly.
We welcomed many new faces to the festival this year and were delighted to see old friends again.
Our Choirs & Bands day at St Mary’s Church was a wonderful event. Every year this gets more popular and the standard seemed higher than ever this year. The earlier part of the day was packed with school children’s choirs and orchestras, and the evening was a stunning display of talent from adult choirs.
The main week of the festival was again held at the Redbridge Music Centre, where they made us very welcome. Throughout the week, we were treated to singing, piano, instrumental, composition, and speech and drama entries of the highest standard. Of particular note was the Concerto Class, won by Desmond Zee. Desmond also won the EPTA Cup. The prestigious Felix Marr Award went to Daniel Tahmisyan this year.
The festival culminates every year with our Young Musician of the Year evening. This year, eight young musicians all gave breath-taking performances in the presence of the Mayor of Redbridge, Sheila Bain. The prize was carried off by Daniel Tahmisyan.
It is always good to welcome Friends of the Festival who support us with an annual £10 donation. They have a free programme and free entry to all events.
We are also grateful to our sponsors who pay for adverts in our programme, and sponsor cash and cup prizes.
All the helpers at our busy festival are volunteers. We welcome helpers during the week and the committee members spend many hours preparing and running the festival. Huge thanks are due to everyone!
Plans for the 2026 festival are well underway. It's always a challenge and an honour, but as the festival has been running since 1882, we fully intend that it should continue to bring inspiration and opportunity to so many.
Stella Redburn
Festival Secretary