News

Springboard Festival are thrilled to announce the following opportunity being offered by New Sussex Opera to a singer/singers in the 16-18 year old and adult categories in the 2018 Festival, at the discretion of an NSO representative: to sing a solo role in a production, or a performance opportunity at an NSO concert, and/or free membership of the Chorus for a year.

Thank you to everyone who attended the AGM. 

Sue Sheen (right) was presented with flowers to thank her for her 7 years as Chair of Springboard.  She is stepping down to Vice Chair and  Jannet King (left) is taking over as Chair.

One of our partner organisations, Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra, has an exciting new programme out  click here for more details.

Springboard depends almost entirely by volunteers – around a hundred altogether. Some are involved year round, planning and running the different sections, and others give a few hours of their time in March to act as a door steward, or to serve in the café.

All you need are empathy, tact and common sense. And in return you have the pleasure of working in a team and meeting other volunteers, the satisfaction of supporting people who are bravely putting themselves in the spotlight, and the opportunity to marvel at, and be moved by, the depth of their talent.

All volunteers are given a free pass to any of the Festival classes.

If you would like to volunteer at Springboard during March, for as many hours as you wish, please get in touch with Jannet King

Juan Pablo Hinojosa was the winner of the Senior Recital Class in the Springboard 2014 Festival.  John Bruzon has been following his progress.

“I attended Juan Pablo’s recent recital in Brighton and wanted to share with you how very much I enjoyed his playing.

He has matured considerably and was sincere and most eloquent with his introductions to the music he was about to play.  In works by Debussy, Scriabin and Albeniz, Juan Pablo demonstrated a clear understanding of structure and style. He makes a beautiful sound at the piano, always allowing phrases to breathe in a natural way and displaying a wonderful sense of musicianship. He is a natural communicator!”

Former Springboard Concerto winner Michael Leach recently graduated from a masters course at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.  He read music at Girton College, Cambridge and graduated in 2012 where he was a music scholar and studied piano with Lucy Parham. Michael attended Junior Guildhall from the age of 13-18 and in his final year, was awarded the Keyboard prize and 2nd place in the Lutine prize. Recent competition successes include the Alkan prize, Cambridge, 1st place at the Springboard Concerto Competition and 2nd place at the Oxford Music Festival Piano Recital Class. Michael has performed as a soloist with several orchestras including Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Brighton Youth Orchestra. Michael has given recitals at the Brighton Dome, St Martin-in-the-Fields and the Wales Millennium Centre.

The opening half of the recital features works by Haydn, Ligeti and Brahms. After the interval Michael will concentrate on the complete Book 1 of On An Overgrown Path, by Janáček, which the composer said “contains distant reminiscences. Those reminiscences are so dear to me that I do not think they will ever vanish.” The recital concludes with Ravel’s sparkling Jeux d’Eau. See full programme here.

MICHAEL LEACH
Friday 27 January 2017. 7.30pm 
St. Luke’s Church, Queen’s Park Road, BN2 9ZB
Tickets £7 / £5 concessions / £3 under 12s available on the door. Wine and refreshments served. Disabled access.

Mary Tyler, runner-up in the under 25s concerto section will be performing with the Brighton Youth Orchestra String Ensemble on 18 February 2017 at St Mary de Haura Church as part of their end of tour concert.

The concert will take place at 7.30pm.  The concert programme will include Bach D minor Piano Concerto with soloist Philip Leslie and Finzi Clarinet Concerto performed by Mary.

Please contact Holly Griffiths for more details holly.griffiths@brighton-hove.gov.uk

At the Springboard AGM on 16 September, Springboard President, Gavin Henderson, awarded two British and International Federation of Festival medals for 50 years service to June Ingleton and Linda Bhattacharya.

A celebration of ‘four score years plus or minus’ was held for John Ingleton, Jenny Leworthy, Heather Cowl and Maxine Toff, with a stunning cake made by Ursula Eastwood.