The sounds of the summer

The local scene is packed full of live music in a variety of seasonal settings.

Castle Bytham’s excellent Midsummer Festival last month included two stages and featured Peterborough Music Hub’s New Youth Music Showcase winner Chloe Lorentzen. The weekend event attracted huge numbers of visitors and hosted a superb mix of performers. If you’ve never been, look out for next year’s dates.

The strong link between music and sport has also been in evidence during the World Cup.

Supporters visiting The Solstice in Northminster the other weekend enjoyed pre-match music, with a live band performing from an open-sided trailer. Music really does create a fantastic atmosphere and it’s always great to see musicians performing live locally.

For fans of a more classical programme, choral group Echo perform BRICK BY BRICK at the Priory Church in Deeping St. James on Thursday, July 12, exploring music from the 15th century to the present day, inspired by and relating to architecture and technological progress. The eight strong group of professional singers have appeared in festivals across the country and collaborated with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. For tickets visitwww.stamfordartscentre.com

And with the summer holidays just around the corner, places for this year’s Peterborough Youth Orchestra workshop programme are still available. The workshops include sessions for players at grade 6+, right through to PYO’s ‘First Steps’ sessions, for young players at the start of their musical journey. This year’s music is themed around the movies, with some well-known music to be enjoyed across the week. Bursaries are available to eligible applicants and the workshop sessions will be held at the fabulous Kingsgate Conference Centre, starting on Monday, August 6. Professional players from Britten Sinfonia, will lead workshops on one of the days too. This year’s event is also offering a new PYO Chorus Group, bringing together singers of all abilities aged 21 years and under.

Email:[email protected] for more details, dates and application forms.

Finally, staying with the film theme, congratulations to The Peterborough School for sweeping the boards at this year’s Children’s Film Awards. Their short film Peteropoly, won several categories – including the Music Hub’s Award for the Best Soundtrack. Many of the entries, included some excellent music choices – highlighting the important part music plays in films, creating atmosphere and supporting the storytelling.

We hope you get out and enjoy some live music this month and make the most of this glorious summer sunshine.