The Sandbach Concert Series is a series of eight monthly concerts per year, that takes place in

Sandbach Sandbach (pronounced ) is the name of a historic market town and a civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. The civil parish contains four settlements: Sandbach itself as the largest, Elworth, Ettiley Heath a ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

. Each event begins with a Spotlight Concert that showcases a number of young musicians from local schools, before the main concert featuring professional musicians.William Upton, "Sound of Sandbach", ''Cheshire Life'' magazine, August 2011
page 161
/ref> There is also an art exhibition, and raffle raising money for charitable causes. There have been over 50 concerts to date.

History

The Concert Series was conceived by harpist Lauren Scott and co-founded in 2010 with her husband, the composer and saxophonist Andy Scott as Musical Director."Sandbach Concert Series is a Winner", ''Local Life!'' magazine, January 2011, page 63 Following a presentation to the local Council in July 2010, funding was secured from Sandbach Town Council,

Cheshire East Council Cheshire East Council is the local authority of the Borough of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It provides a full range of local government ...

, and

Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three s ...

with the National Lottery, and the first concert debuted on the evening of Wednesday 29 September 2010. The concert is non-profit making, and run by volunteers. In 2016, the organisation became a registered charity.

Sandbach Young Musician of the Year

In 2015, the Concert Series launched the Sandbach Young Musician of the Year, an annual competition "open to individual performers aged 19 and under who have performed at one of the Sandbach Concert Series Spotlight concerts during the previous calendar year". The first final was held on 18 April 2015 at

Sandbach Town Hall Sandbach Town Hall is a municipal building in the High Street in Sandbach, Cheshire, England. The structure, which is the meeting place of Sandbach Town Council, is a Grade II listed building. History The first town hall in Sandbach was a medi ...

during the annual Sandbach Transport Festival. The competition was won by Alex Flanders, with prizes awarded by Sandbach Mayor Elsie Alcock.

Performers

Notable performers have included

Craig Ogden Craig Ogden is an Australian classical guitarist whose albums have topped the UK classical charts. He is Principal Lecturer in Guitar at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, UK. Ogden began playing guitar at the age of seven, and ...

Chris Stout Chris Stout (born 1976) is a Scottish fiddle/violin player from Shetland, now based in Glasgow. Stout grew up in Fair Isle and lived there until 8 years of age before moving to Sandwick on the Shetland Mainland, then on to Glasgow in the 1990s. ...

& Catriona McKay,

Gwilym Simcock Gwilym Simcock (born 24 February 1981) is a Welsh pianist and composer working in both jazz and classical music, often blurring any distinction between the two musical forms. Simcock was chosen as one of the 1000 Most Influential People in Lo ...

, Paul Edmund-Davies,

Bramwell Tovey Bramwell Tovey (11 July 1953 – 12 July 2022) was a British conductor and composer. Life and career Tovey was educated at Ilford County High School, the Royal Academy of Music and the University of London. His formal music education was as ...

, Linda Richardson, and Tina May and pianist Nikki Ile."Friends to perform notable jazz finale", ''Chester Chronicle'', 19 June 2014, News section, Page 43
online, $$$

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sandbach Concert Series 2010 establishments in England Classical music festivals in England Music festivals in Cheshire Music festivals established in 2010 Sandbach