Leith Hill Music Festival 2026

That's a wrap on another year of the Leith Hill Music Festival!

Well done to everyone in the choir who put in the hours of practice and admin to get us all up on stage to perform yesterday. We may have come last but the resounding feeling was that we did ourselves proud! Every choir we competed against was at least twice our size but we held our own and sang very well (even with the nerves).

As usual the videos of each piece are below. They were kindly filmed by a previous member of the choir, Julia, who came to support us.

Salve O Vergine Maria by Rossini

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_2O51wGylY

What is Love? by Dawn Richards

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjoiN6lqYLk

A comment from the composer: "Thank you all for putting so much effort into learning this piece. It means a lot to have such willing singers who are happy to be pushed outside their comfort zone and in doing so inspiring me to start writing music again!"

Exsultate Deo by Scarlatti

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxGdwY6w590

Festival Adjudications

Accompanied piece	“Salve Regina”		78
Well done for opening the festival – a scary task! Intonation at the beginning suffered a little, probably for nerves, but gained in confidence as you continued. Dynamics were distinctive at the outer limits of f &p, further improvement available by approaching <  > more gradually. Increased confidence by repetition of theme at b23 showed us what your best sound can be! Well finished with strong chord.
Living Composer	“What is Love”			75
Congratulations to choir and composer – championing our own community’s music is very important. This deceptively tricky piece exposes how unified (or not) your singing is on D. At times, a little hesitant. More articulation needed to distinguish text, but connection to one another (in adversity at times) brought you together for some special moments. An encouraging show of commitment(?) to one another.
Unaccompanied piece		“Exsultate Deo”		78
Spirited tempo, joyful start! Great characterization of different sections – Alleluia start particularly assured. Dynamic range could be exploited further for greater effect.