Groups revealed for Saffron Walden Fete de la Musique

Reporter picture (Image: Archant)

It will coincide with a midsummer’s day musical celebration in more than 110 countries but is one of just three in Britain. So far, the others have been in London and Manchester.

Organised by the Saffron Walden Arts Trust, this is a free festival with hundreds of artists in a dozen locations. The first Fete was in 1982 launched by the French Ministry for Culture.

The Saffron Fete’s performers will include artists who have performed at the world’s top venues and won some of the universe’s top prizes – as well as young newcomers with the promise of tomorrow’s stars and other people of all ages just singing and playing for the love of it. Surely, one of the youngest is Isla Osborne, aged nine, who writes her own songs.

The entertainment will be from noon until 8pm, finishing with dancing to Tom Reavey Brothers and Friends playing best-loved covers. Among the venues are The Courtyard, Adnams Cellar, the Phase Eight dress shop, Starbucks, The Cheddar Vine, the Jubilee Gardens, The Cross Keys Hotel, Saffron Walden Museum and Castle, The Croft and the Skate Park.

In the count down to the Fete, each week, the Reporter, which is one of the sponsors of the event, will highlight three artists.

The Joshua, Adelaide and George Harliono Trio are two brothers and a sister who go to school in Cambridge. Violinist Joshua, 15, also attends The Guildhall School of Music. His sister, Adelaide, 10 this year, a cellist, is a member of the National Children’s Orchestra. She has won first prize in the 12 and under category of the Cambridge Music Festival and the Harlow Young Musician of the Year Competition in 2012 and 2013. In 2012, she came first in the 12 and under category of the Saffron Walden Music Competition. Their brother, pianist, George, 14, has performed and won prizes all over the world, including the Wigmore Hall and two performances at the Festival Hall, one with Lang Lang. He has just completed his first solo recording at The South Bank. This year he has been asked to play in London, Munich, China and Miami.

Another family band, The Hooligans (actually the Halligans) are from Saffron Walden, playing traditional Irish music, bluegrass and klezmer. Maeve, 12, plays fiddle, her sister Ailis, 14, piano and Liam their dad is on guitar. They have played at the Saffron Walden Carnival, Bell Bash, Triplow Daffodil Weekend and the Cambridge Busking Festival. They are loved for a combination of reels, jigs, hornpipes and well-known ballads.

Joanna Eden’s Thursday Night Singers are a group taught by Saffron Walden-based Joanna, who has become known as the teacher of singer Sam Smith. In her own right, she has sung at The Royal Albert Hall and Ronnie Scotts.

See more details on www.saffronwaldenartstrust.co.uk.