Stratford & East London Music Festival

18/09/2025

The Stratford & East London Music Festival is pleased to announce that our 2026 Syllabus is now available. For full details please go to our website at www.stratfordmusicfestival.org.uk/the-festival

The Festival will be held in February 2026 and entries need to be made by the end of 2025.

Our Festival is the oldest competitive music and drama festival in the UK. All entrants will get a written and verbal assessment from a professional adjudicator. Most winners of classes will receive a cup and we also have cash prizes ranging from £25 to £500 for the best performers in certain classes.

We welcome entries from people of any age and ability. We have classes for all.

If you want to showcase your talent and receive professional feedback in a freindly and encouraging environment please enter. If you know someone who might like to participate please tell them.

Please use your network to share the syllabus with others.

Entries are made online using our Play and Perform Application.

Our 2026 festival will take place on 9/10 February 2026 at St Mary’s Church in South Woodford for choirs, orchestras and bands; all music, speech and drama classes will take place 16 - 21 February at the Redbridge Music Service, Hainault.

17/09/2025

The syllabus for our 2026 Festival will be out shortly - and in the meantime, our many pianists may be interested to know that we are introducing three new non-competitive 'Come and Play' classes, for those who prefer to share their music in a non-competitive situation. All entrants for these classes will receive feedback from the adjudicator and a participation certificate😀

20/08/2025

Hello Drama entrants and followers.

We have become aware of a full time 2 year Accelerated Acting degree course in Shoreditch, London that is offering a scholarship for one student from the East of London. Some details follow from the college together with a contact email address. We want to share this opportunity with you but we are unable to recommend or endorse the course.

Matthew Taylor
Speech and Drama Convenor and Chair of the Stratford and East London Music Festival.

COURT THEATRE TRAINING COMPANY

courttheatre.org.uk

Train. Perform. Graduate in 2 Years — With a Full Scholarship for a Local Talent

Court Theatre Training Company is offering a unique opportunity for someone local to East London to join our 2-Year Accelerated BA (Hons) Acting degree this September — with one full scholarship available for the right candidate.

Recently accepted into the Federation of Drama Schools, Court Theatre delivers intensive professional training in the heart of London, with direct industry links, public showcases, and real performance opportunities.

If you live in East London and are ready to pursue a career in acting, this could be your chance to train professionally without tuition fees.

Apply now.

Email [email protected]

​ Our CourseApply Now 2yr accelerated BA(Hons) in Acting Based in Shoreditch, Central London Taught in a vibrant working theatre. Our Course About us Our Facility Apply Now NEWS: Court Theatre Training Company Joins ‘Federation of Drama Schools’ A new chapter in UK drama training history. NEWS...

05/08/2025

Ron Skillett - Past Festival Chair and Honorary Festival President

It is with great sadness that we share the news that Ron passed away on the 31st July after a long battle against cancer. Ron was a dear friend of the Festival and led it through some difficult times. For many, you will know him best for holding the fort, and waxing lyrical, in the Festival tuck shop. His words of encouragement, warm welcome and freindly smile helped to calm nerves and build confidence.

We will all miss him. It won't be the same without him.

With deepest sympathies to his wife Rosemarie and family.

God bless you Ron.

From Matthew Taylor, Festival chair, and all of the Festival Committee

23/02/2025

We held our Young Musician of the Year Final last night.

We were very pleased that Madam Mayor - Sheila Bain - Mayor of Redbridge joined us as our special guest.

Our adjudicator for the evening was Richard Deering, a very experienced judge with a long career of performance and teaching.

The Young Musician competition takes the best 11-18 year old musicians from across all our solo musical disciplines over the 6 day festival and invites them to compete for the best of the best award. This year's final included pianists, singers, harp and recorder.

The winner was Daniel Tahmisyan on piano. Richard praised the talent shown by all the performers but felt Daniel moved him the most. Daniel combined technical ability with emotion. Well done Daniel. As well as the Young Musician Shield Daniel also received a first prize of £250.

Other important awards made by Madam Mayor - Sheila Bain were:

The Felix Marr award for the highest mark on piano in the open classes. This award is sponsored by the family of Felix Marr. Their wish is that their generous prize of £500 will further the studies of exceptional entrants. This was also won by Daniel Tahmisyan.

The EPTA Cup is awarded to the most outstanding pianist aged 18 or under and was won by Desmond Zee. Well done Desmond. Earlier in the week Desmond won our concerto class. The concerto class attracts entrants of the highest calibre and has a first prize of £200.

The Ron Parker Memorial cup was also awarded to Senaya De Silva for first place across all Harp classes. Well done Senaya.

Each year we have about 170 cups to award and many cash prizes. Our Festival has a very wide range of classes including Choirs, Bands, Composition, Solo and Ensemble Singing, Piano, Instrumental and Speech and Drama. We attract entrants of all ages from beginners to the highly accomplished.

As chair of the Stratford & East London Music Festival I would like to thank the 500 plus entrants we had, their teachers, parents, guardians and acompanists. I would also like to thank the Festival Committee and other volunteers who give up their time to make it happen each year. Finally thanks to the Redbridge Music School staff who always offer us excellent support.

Matthew Taylor: Chair

21/02/2025

🌟Congratulations Desmond on winning the Concerto Shield! 🌟

Well done to the other competitors for your wonderful performances as well 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

21/02/2025

🌟Thank you to those who came to The Concerto Class last night!
It is such an amazing Class with such talent. Congratulations to the Winner who won a £200 cash prize and the Concerto Shield.

If anyone would like to enter the Class next year, do start thinking about it and practising 😊 We would love to see you in 2026.

This morning from 10am we have the Millennium and Confinemento Classes where competitors perform 2/3 disciplines each! Imagine someone playing the piano, then singing and then acting out a drama piece. 😃

It is a another fantastic class to watch.
Do try and come 😊

20/02/2025

Final few photos from the piano sessions - hoping to see all our participants again next year! 😃

19/02/2025

Day three of the piano classes.....

18/02/2025

That's a wrap for Day 2 of the Singing classes and we had even more wonderful young singers. Well done to everyone. By the way we do have a lot of adult classes too!

Tomorrow we continue with our Piano classes and start 3 days of Instrumental classes.

18/02/2025

A few more photos, from a busy second day of the piano classes!