The 2026 String Festival: A Showcase of String Excellence

This year’s String Festival was very much saved at the last minute by Janet Fuest, a former principal violinist with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and long-standing teacher at the Junior Section of the Royal Northern College of Music.

We had a late apology from our original adjudicator who was sadly not able to join us due to unforeseen circumstances and Janet very graciously jumped in at the last minute. Janet began with an Intermediate Category competition to adjudicate, she then gave two workshops with our Prelude Strings ensemble and our String Orchestra respectively and a two-hour long Senior Category competition to finish the day in style.

We were treated to a who range of repertoire prepared by our highly impressive and ambitious string players. The Intermediate Category was won by Magdalena on the harp which was a turn out for the books. I should think it has been a little while since a harp player last got their hands on a trophy so well done to Magdalena on representing her instrument so brilliantly. Eric L was awarded second pace with a fine performance of some Fauré on the cello and the experienced Con W picked up a bronze medal with a particular mention made of the fine sound that he makes on the violin.

Our two workshops followed. The Prelude Strings worked on specific string-related techniques on the first movement of Peter Martin’s Latin Set. The Prelude Strings were encouraged to make a bigger and fuller sound and revel in their music making with more abundance. The String Orchestra then had a session on the first movement of Antonín Dvorák’s Serenade for Strings. Janet Fuest was particularly impressed with the strength of the school’s lower string sections. It is particularly rare to have such a solid Double Bass section and this acts as a rock from which the ensemble can build their sound.

The final stage of the day involved listening to some blistering performances from our Senior Category sting players who played a bit of everything from Bach through to Schumann to Wieniawski. The pupils had put in a great deal of preparation to pull together some fantastic performances. The first prize this year went to Don W who fully deserved to win with a resplendent performance of Bruch’s Kol Nidrei. Don really projected his sound out into the Alington Hall and won the audience over with a highly considered interpretation of the piece. 2nd place went to Chit S who played the highly challenging final movement of Rachmaninoff’s Cello Sonata and Aletta v B took third prize for a characteristically assured performance of the first movement from Koussevitsky’s Double Bass Concerto.

All participants were rightfully celebrated for their participation in the 2026 String Festival. The students continue to impress with the quality of their playing and their commitment to the musical cause at Shrewsbury School.

Christopher Potts - Deputy Director of Music