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Edinburgh Competition Festival Association

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Edinburgh Competition Festival Association Edinburgh Competition Festival Association Affiliated to THE BRITISH AND INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF FESTIVALS FOR MUSIC, DANCE AND SPEECH PATRON: HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN Hon. President of ECFA The Hon. Lord Provost of the City of Edinburgh Chair Roger Robertson Vice-Chair Jennifer Forbes Treasurer Russell Pugh Association Secretary vacant Festival Secretary Eun-Joo Yoon www.ecfest.org.uk A Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation: SC 006128 Welcome to the 100th Edinburgh Competition Festival 2020 is our centenary year and we have plans to celebrate in style! Since 1920 we have been providing opportunities for amateur musicians to perform in a friendly and constructive environment with feedback from expert adjudicators. Our aim has always been for participants to find it a stimulating musical experience. There are competitive and non-competitive classes for all ages, mainly organised by playing ability rather than by age, and covering a wide range of instruments as well as singing. Family members and the general public are welcome to attend any of the classes free of charge. You will hear some splendid performances, and illuminating expert adjudications. How do you enter? Just go to our website www.ecfest.org.uk , click “Syllabus” and select RunMyFestival Online Entry System. A Special Feature. This year we would particularly like to encourage more choirs to enter. As part of our Centenary initiatives, and led by the highly regarded choral director Frikki Walker, we are offering a free workshop to participating choirs who will also perform under his direction in the Highlights Concert on Sunday 15th March at The Queen’s Hall. See p16. The Festival will be launched with the first round of the Concerto Competition on Friday 31st January and Saturday 1st February 2020 in Stockbridge Parish Church. The concert at The Queen’s Hall will feature highlights of the Festival including the Centenary Choir class and the final of the Concerto Competition. Other events in our Centenary year include an invitation to medal winners of the 15-minute recital classes to perform in St Giles’ at Six on Sunday 29th March. On Sunday 17th May there will be a Centenary Concert in St. Cecilia’s Hall where several distinguished former winners will perform. I should like to take this opportunity to thank our generous sponsors and the large band of volunteers without whom we could not run the Festival. We are extremely grateful for all that they do. Roger Robertson ECFA Chair 100 Years of the Edinburgh Competition Festival In 1913 after two years of successful Competitions in Glasgow, an Edinburgh lawyer, the then Glasgow Chairman, proposed holding a similar Festival in Edinburgh. There was enthusiastic support for this initiative from the City Council, the University, local teachers, the city's music shops and numerous individuals. After wartime delays and uncertainties and very careful preparation the first Festival, initially named Edinburgh (Musical) Competition Festival, was held in May 1920. Since then, with only one cancelled season in 1931, apparently the result of financial difficulties following the “crash" in late 1929, the Festival has been held annually. The year 2020 will therefore mark both the centenary of the Edinburgh Festival Association and the hundredth Festival. The new Festival was almost entirely choral. The groups were mostly, but not exclusively, from schools, churches and youth organisations, coming to Edinburgh from all over Scotland and the North of England. From the outset Edinburgh also held vocal and instrumental competitions for soloists and ensembles. In 1921 team classes for folk dancing, not exclusively Scottish, and elocution classes were added to the successful events for choirs, amateur opera singers, bands, pianists and string players. Celebrated musicians actors and poets of the day such as Vaughan Williams, Granville Bantock, John Masefield and Gustav Holst came to adjudicate in the early years and competitions were started for aspiring poets and composers. For a year or two events were held at the Usher Hall and at the Central Halls, so the Medallion designed in 1921 shows the back of the castle, with the Scott Monument and apparently Arthur’s Seat as a background to a dancing figure singing with her harp. In mid-century and until the late 1970s the Festival was held with great success at the Assembly Rooms in George Street. With the advent of the Lothian Region that became too expensive and the Festival moved around, going for some years to the Brunton Halls at Musselburgh before coming back to town to be held in various venues around town. Stockbridge and its churches, together with rooms at the Edinburgh Academy, provided a friendly environment for several years until a move back to the centre of town to St. Cuthbert's and other venues at the West End became the centre of activity. This move, coinciding with a re-timing of the Festival to early March, has proved popular with visitors from out of town and the Final Evenings at the Queen’s Hall have attracted good audiences to hear Highlights of the Festival and the exciting Concerto Final. Although the Festival movement was founded late in the 19th century to encourage amateur competition and there is a long history of trophies being awarded for winning performances, Edinburgh pioneered non-competitive events and in the recent years abandoned the tradition of "Set Works" and competitions with restricted age bands. Performers and their teachers are now entirely free to choose repertoire that suits them and offer their work in company of fellows at the same level of development. These initiatives were not initially approved by the Federation of Festivals. However, they have proved popular with performers, parents and teachers and many other Festivals belonging to the Federation have followed Edinburgh’s lead in establishing non-competitive events. Sadly the elements of Speech and Dance have now been discontinued and our Festival is for now exclusively for amateur and student musicians. Among all the new developments offered by social media, the Festival in Edinburgh still offers unique opportunities to perform in a friendly, if challenging atmosphere. Carolyn Coxon 2020 is our Centenary Year! Centenary events 31 January - 1 February Concerto Class first round to be held in Stockbridge Parish Church 1 - 28 February Exhibition – 100 years of the Edinburgh Competition Festival in the Music Library, George IV Bridge 3 - 15 March 2020 Festival 15 March Highlights Concert & Concerto Final to be held in The Queen’s Hall. This will include a special Centenary Choir performance. 29 March St Giles’ at Six performances by some of our 2020 15- minute recital winners 17 May Centenary Concert at St Cecilia’s Hall performances by distinguished former Festival winners Sponsorship and Donations The Association records with gratitude the sponsorship and support received from: THE PLUM TRUST THE ANNE CLUTTERBUCK TRUST THE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF SCOTLAND Donations from a number of other bodies and from many individuals, including those who sponsor pages in the Festival Programme, are invaluable to us. In addition, we are indebted to those many people who give freely of their time both during the Festival and throughout the year and who, with all those who participate, make the Festival the success it is. These include the members of our Festival Council, our stewards at the Festival and Mr Norman Motion for tuning our pianos. Without all this generosity we would not be able to maintain the quality and breadth of our Festival. If you would like to sponsor any part of the Festival, or make a donation, please contact our Treasurer, details below. Alternatively, please support the Festival by becoming a member of the Association using the form in this publication. ECFA Treasurer Russell Pugh 16 House O’Hill Avenue Edinburgh EH4 5DL Tel: 0131 332 8339 [email protected] A Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation: SC 006128 Please support the Festival by becoming a Member APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP OF THE ASSOCIATION To the Membership Secretary: Myra Ebner 38 Spylaw Road Edinburgh EH10 5BL Tel: 07841 872774 [email protected] I wish to support The Edinburgh Competition Festival Association by enrolling as a member of the Association. I understand that, as a member, I will receive: ADVANCE COPIES OF THE ANNUAL SYLLABUS AND FESTIVAL PROGRAMME I enclose a cheque for the sum of £………… being the subscription for (tick as appropriate): Life member-Ordinary £200 Senior Life member £150 Ordinary member £20 annually* Senior member £15 annually* Family membership £30 annually* *Membership runs from 1st January to 31st December NAME……………………………………………………………………………… ADDRESS………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… Tel………………………………… Email……………………………………… GIFT AID: If you are a taxpayer you can help the Festival further by completing and enclosing the Gift Aid Declaration on the next page. The Edinburgh Competition Festival Association GIFT AID DECLARATION Since 6 April 2000, anyone who pays Income Tax and/or Capital Gains Tax in the UK has been able to declare that certain payments they make to charities are Gift Aid. Declarations can have retrospective effect for payments made in the previous six years. Regardless of the size or number of any subscriptions or donations, your declaration will enable the Festival Association, which is a registered charity (SC 006128), to reclaim Tax and effectively
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