Photo – Bel Canto Choir

Last week saw the ever popular annual Bedfordshire Festival of Music, Speech, and Drama, running from Saturday 2nd to Saturday 9th March 2024. This event serves as a delightful opportunity to appreciate the talents within our community, showcasing a range of styles and expressions in Music, Speech and Drama across the County.

BGS entered a plethora of students into numerous Music and Speech and Drama categories, ranging from full choirs to solo singing and orchestras to oboes. Programmes included verse-speaking, mime, Shakespeare and more.

There was plenty of talent on show from across the whole school, with a huge entry from Speech and Drama, resulting in students being awarded a total of 15 1sts, 19 2nds and 26 3rds. View the full BGS Speech and Drama results here.

Our Musicians entered 104 Classes, including four ensembles – Baby Bels, Bel Canto, Genesis and Junior Orchestra. BGS students were awarded 20 1sts, 11 2nds and 11 3rds. In addition to this, 9 were Outstanding, 31 Distinction and 36 Commended. Our talented Bel Canto choir won The Stella Mathers Trophy and The Bedford Choral Society Cup. Musical theatre choir, Genesis, won The Luton Challenge Shield and the Baby Bels (the Bel Canto Junior choir) won The Emily Emery Challenge Cup. View the full BGS Music results here.

In addition to the achievements throughout the week, Bel Canto, Serena Jacob (Lower Sixth and Meg Miles (Year 9) were invited to perform at the showpiece Gala Concert on Saturday evening. Bel Canto won The Swan Hotel Rose Bowl for their outstanding performance at this concert and Meg Miles won The Elaine Bonas Prize for the most promising young singer at the festival.

Mr Keating-Roberts (Director of Music) said: “I am absolutely delighted with the recognition and success of our Music students and Bel Canto in particular. It's truly remarkable to see the dedication and talent of these young musicians being recognised on such a grand scale. The Festival is such a wonderful opportunity for our students to meet other performers and experience a wide variety of performers of all ages, styles and genres. All of our performers delivered assured and confident performances and their achievements are a testament to their hard work and passion for music. The feedback from the festival adjudicators was overwhelmingly positive and I am so proud of all of our music students and staff that took part in the Festival and very much looking forward to next year.”

Mr Stratton (Director of Drama and Dance) reflected: “In a celebration of our students' talents and perseverance, we are proud to showcase their outstanding achievements in the arts. Speech and Drama, recognised as vital tools for effective communication, serve as platforms for our students to unleash their creativity, express their thoughts clearly and master the art of storytelling. We are so proud of our students who have taken the stage, pouring their hearts into their performances, demonstrating dedication, courage and a pursuit of excellence. A special thank you to our dedicated Speech and Drama Teachers, Ms Smith and Miss Burns, for their invaluable support and guidance to our students at BGS.”

Ms Smith (Speech and Drama Coordinator) added: “Congratulations to all the students who took part in the Speech and Drama classes at the Festival last week. What a wonderful week Miss Burns and I had watching our students perform with passion, we are both incredibly proud of all the Festival participants.”

View a gallery of photos from the competition here.