The Eastern region gained a new state of the art music facility today, as Dame Evelyn Glennie opened the Felsted Schools new £3 million music department. Pupils from all over the region gathered to hear Dame Evelyn perform a unique piece called ‘Prim’ composed by Icelandic composer Askell Mason and staged to celebrate the opening. Dame Evelyn then took part in a Musicians Forum, answering questions from the audience that comprised Head Teachers and Heads of Music Departments from many of the region’s top schools, as well as parents, pupils and governors of The Felsted Schools.

This new music school offers a first class recital hall seating over 200, plus recording studio, a percussion suite, two classrooms as well as 13 teaching and practice rooms. It will not only be used by the school but also Felsted’s active choral society as well as providing a base for many other regional musical collaborations in the future. Dame Evelyn Glennie said ‘I am honoured to open this new facility and I celebrate the life and energy that will be created in this space. Life begins and ends with the sound of music, with rhythm making up our earliest experience. Music is my daily medicine, as sport and art can be – so I am thrilled that this new music school will provide so many people with the chance to discover music for the future.’ Amongst the specially invited audience was Thomas Brown from St Margaret’s Gosfield. He commented ‘I thought she was amazing. I’ve never heard anything like the sound that she made from just one snare drum’. Thomas is a scholarship candidate for The Felsted schools. Existing Felsted scholar Benedict Gibbon said “we are so lucky to have Dame Glennie here to play for us. Felsted really encourages us in our music, but the performance today was inspirational.’

The event closed with a performance by the school’s chamber choir of pieces by Britten and Purcell which got warm applause. The Felsted School’s headmaster, Dr Mike Walker concluded: ‘This was a memorable day in so many ways. Dame Evelyn’s performance was astounding, creating an unbelievable dynamic from a single instrument. We were also honoured and delighted to welcome the benefactors of the music school, as well as many Old Felstedians, retired teachers and parents past and present.”

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