Young xylophone player picks up another national award
A young musician has picked up his second national award after wowing judges with a stunning xylophone solo as his school celebrated a quartet of prestigious prizes.
Adrian Au was one of two soloists from Wrekin College in Shropshire to be named as individual prize winners at the National Concert Band Festival in Manchester.
Singer Valeriia Khrystiuk also took solo honours for a superb performance of Can’t Help Loving Dat Man with the school’s jazz band.
More than 40 musicians from the school, aged 11-18, travelled to the Royal Northern College of Music for the festival, which welcomes bands from across the country.
The Wrekin College Concert Band celebrated its second national top platinum award while the school’s jazz band picked up a gold award.
Adrian performed Robbin Harry, by Laurence Innes, to rapturous applause in the College’s Concert Hall, prompting judges to say they had found “a real star”.
The National Concert Band Festival's twitter account publicly lauded the young percussionist with a tweet that said “We’ve just heard an amazing performance” of Innes’ Xylophone solo.
Director of music at Wrekin College, Simon Platford, said he was hugely proud of both the school bands saying it had been an incredible team effort following months of hard work.
“I am truly privileged to work with a special bunch of remarkable youngsters who always step up! I appreciate their understanding and effort as I am always searching for that next level from the musicians,” he added.
“They have given up their time, some flying in from international homelands, for a packed schedule of rehearsals during their Easter holidays to prepare for yesterday and gave two wonderful performances. I was particularly delighted to see how much they really enjoyed yesterday and the opportunity to perform at what is a very impressive learning and performing environment for musicians.
“We are grateful too to all the families that travelled to watch the performances and I know it meant a great deal to our musicians to have that encouragement and support in the audience.”
Wrekin continues its commitment to supporting young rising stars with its Sounds of the Future series of concerts throughout the year.
They were originally launched to celebrate the opening of the Wrekin College Music School which has state-of-the-art rehearsal facilities for ensembles and solo performers.
The award-winning Wrekin College Jazz Band will once again take to the stage with two local performers, Ralph Porrett (and his quintet) on jazz guitar and Jack Hoof on the Cornet/Trumpet. Ralph was the first-ever guitarist to perform in the BBC Young Jazz Musician final in 2020 - a feat he repeated in 2022.
Ralph’s concert will be held on May 5 with tickets priced at £12.50 and Jack’s recital is on May 19 at 7pm with tickets priced at £5. Tickets for both concerts are available online from ticketsource.co.uk/wrekinarts
