MORE than a hundred talented young musicians and singers serenaded an appreciative audience at Gwent Music’s Monmouthshire Spring Showcase.  

The event at Monmouth Comprehensive School was put on in association with Monmouthshire Council and Music for Youth, the young person’s music charity, which sent a representative to cast their eye over potential recruits for their regional showcase, which in turn leads on to a festival at the Royal Albert Hall.

Council chair Cllr Meirion Howells thanked musicians, organisers, music teachers, parents, carers and others in the audience for supporting the event, which raised funds for Gwent Music and his chosen charity St David’s Hospice Care.    

The concert began with the Gwent Youth Band under the baton of Chris Turner, who played Kongolela, Hine and a foot-stomping You Can’t Stop The Beat.

Gwent Clarinet Choir under Amy Beckett and Carole Bright played Caprice for Clarinet and a melodic Happijazz, followed by Monmouth Comprehensive’s String Ensemble under the directorship of Marisa Riordan performing La Cumparsita and a delightful Folk Medley.

The beat was to the fore as the Gwent Percussion Ensemble under Hope Hollowell then breezed through Brazil and Breakdown.

Lana Tingay and the Gwent Intermediate Brass Band had a licence to thrill with a Bond-inspired piece, before the Gwent Brass Ensemble under Martin Davis rumbled with rhythm with Havana and Happy, and showed classical class with Handel’s Maccabeus.

It was then time for members of the cast of Monmouth Comprehensive’s recent sell-out production of Les Miserables to perform a stirring melody from the show under the baton of Amy Ritter.

And the showcase closed with Gwent Big Band under Joe Bentley jazzing things up with Sy Oliver’s Opus One before shaking and stirring with an arrangement of Monty Norman’s James Bond theme.