This year’s Petersfield Musical Festival (PMF) set new records and had a variety of musical styles over nine days and ten concerts.

A total of 800 performers took to the stage including 14 conductors, seven choirs, four orchestras, three bands, 11 soloist, two readers and an opera company. Audience numbers of 2,283 broke last year’s record, and every concert held at the Festival Hall was sold out. Two concerts were free entry, making music accessible to all.

“We had a fabulous festival,” said chair Pam Buckley.

“It was so uplifting for musicians and audiences to enjoy first class performances of imaginative programmes in full houses. We enjoyed a huge variety of music from Strauss to Shostakovich, Swann to Saint-Saens from a brass band to a chamber choir, all performed to a high standard.”

Of particular importance to the festival team is providing support for young musicians, with local schools getting the opportunity to perform to a large audience. The family concert (when children as young as babies can experience a live orchestra), and the lunch-time concert when Michael Hurd Fund award holders show off their skills, were also a big success.

SouthDowns Camerata director Sara Deborah Timossi commented: “These concerts demonstrate how PMF nurtures the love of music in children and adults on every step of their journey, from the first encounter to lifelong enjoyment or even professional musicianship.”

Young musicians in their twenties were also represented as soloists in the two full-scale choral concerts. With support from the Janet Baker Trust, professionals in their early career were given the opportunity to develop their performing skills and gain concert experience.

Petersfield Orchestra took its usual slot with a blockbuster concert including Beethoven’s Emperor piano concerto with rising star soloist Ariel Lanyi and Shostakovich’s Symphony No.10.

For full reviews of the concerts, visit www.petersfieldmusicalfestival.org.uk.