With just days to go until Guild Week, excitement is growing for the 125th Manx Music, Speech and Dance Festival, in association with the Dandara Group.
Final preparations are under way to ensure that this year’s Guild, at the Villa Marina from 21st to 29th April, is as memorable as the 124 previous Festivals and, as this is a special year for the event, expectations are very high. Entries to classes rose this year and some 4,000 competitors will appear during the week, showcasing their talent in music, speech and dance.
Chairman of the Guild Sarah Kelly said: ‘We are really looking forward to the start of the Festival after a busy year of preparation. The Guild kicks off on Friday 21st April with the Battle of the Bands in the Royal Hall – which promises to be an amazing night! We have 18 local rock bands performing and the competition is uniquely judged by our specialist adjudicator from the UK and the audience themselves with our clapometer. We introduced this evening just last year, and it’s gone from strength to strength already. For those who think the Guild is locked in the past, they couldn’t be more wrong! We hope this evening will become a new favourite Guild night in the future.’
In recognition of the Guild’s fascinating history and unique place in Manx life, there will be a special exhibition at the Villa Marina during Guild week looking back at previous Festivals and at the personalities and events that have shaped the current event. The Guild ran through both World Wars and has welcomed adjudications by some of the country’s finest musicians, such as Sir Edward Elgar, as well as providing the Island with its own National Anthem, written for a competition at the Guild by W H Gill.
The prestigious Cleveland Medal final will take place on Friday 28th April after the six finalists have won their “special” class earlier in the week, and the Sheffield Plate final will also take place that evening as a mini-Cleveland for the junior singers. The Festival’s Finest show will be the finale to the week on Saturday 29th April, featuring winners and outstanding performances in music, speech and dance, showing the Guild at its very best.
Sarah continued: ‘Final rehearsals are now being held all over the Island with our official accompanists. In schools and in the dance schools and drama groups, the tension is mounting as everyone gets ready to give their very best. Every year our adjudicators, who fly into the Island for the week, comment on the outstanding talent they see and hear. Many of them enjoy the week so much they ask to return. It truly is a very special week – and we will be celebrating our past and looking towards the future with pride.
‘On behalf of the Festival I would like to, once again, thank our sponsor Dandara for its continued support as we celebrate the finest music, speech and dance in the Isle of Man.’
The Guild Programme, costing ?4.00, is available now from outlets Island-wide.
A season ticket for the Manx Music Festival is available from the Box Office at a cost of ?30 for all sessions during the week, with the exception of the Festival’s Finest concert which will cost ?8 admission. General admission for sessions will be ?4 and is free for under 18s.
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