Penrice Musicians Perform at Songfest 2023

We were delighted to participate in the annual Songfest festival earlier this month, taking a group of talented musicians to Launceston. Mr Brodey, Music Teacher, shares more…

Words by: Mr Brodey
Music Teacher at Penrice Academy

On Tuesday 7th March 2023, Penrice Academy participated in the Launceston staging of SongFest 2023. SongFest is an annual event where children from all over Cornwall participate in a two-week festival with performances in a range of towns which this year included Launceston, Liskeard, Bodmin, Truro, Falmouth and Penzance. Students at Penrice had been practising for weeks for this performance and were incredibly excited to participate!

The First Act saw bands and ensembles from the participating secondary schools take to the stage and Penrice Academy were represented by our Year 11 band comprising of Alfie, Gabriel, Moses and Morley. They performed a set of five songs which got the audience clapping and singing along including Last Nite by The Strokes and Supersonic by Oasis. They were joined in the first half by other acts from Launceston College and Callington Community College.

A selection of our Year 7 singers

The Second Act was a massive choir, made up of Year 7 and Key Stage 2 students from a combination of schools, including Launceston College, Penrice Academy, Coads Green, St Stephens, North Petherwin, Tregadillett, Marhamchurch and St Marks C of E. The songs performed were an educational journey through history, all composed by Rebecca Lawrence from her series Past and Present – Songs of History and Humanity. Highlights from the nine-song programme included What Have the Roman’s Done For Us, Tutankhamun and Chop and Change, a song detailing Henry VIII’s numerous spouses.

The children thoroughly enjoyed experience and the opportunity to meet students from other schools in Cornwall.