PUPILS from four Tynedale schools were the stars of this year’s Hexham Abbey Festival of Music & Arts last Thursday.

A total of 150 key stage 2 pupils from Greenhead, Henshaw, Newbrough and Allendale primary schools performed the Coronation anthem, Zadok the Priest, by Handel to audiences at Hexham Abbey. The show was part of the Schools Music Project, which brings the experience of live music and performance to school children.

The project is run in association with Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester and led by festival project leader Sarah Atter and Emma Cunliffe. Workshops and training sessions took place in the four schools before the final performance, involving staff and pupils.

Joining the young singers on stage were the Chetham’s Stoller Hall Outreach Ensemble and the specially formed Festival Community Choir, directed by Hexham Abbey’s assistant director of music, Keith Dale.

Alison Hawkins, headteacher of Allendale Primary School said that the experience had given the pupils a deeper appreciation and respect for classical music.

“The project has been an enriching experience for our pupils. The music workshops were very inclusive, regardless of musical ability, and children were enabled to explore their imagination,” she said.

“It was the first time many of the children had visited Hexham Abbey and the grandeur of their surroundings was inspiring and a great space in which to experience live music.

“The musicians pitched their performance so well, which allowed the classical genre of music to be accessible to all pupils for whom many of those musical pieces would have been familiar from different contexts, for example the Champions League.”