THE Wharfedale Festival of Piano made a come back after this month after two years of cancellations due to Covid restrictions.

Pat Dibb, General Secretary Wharfedale Festival of Performing Arts (WFPA), discusses the event:

"Thank you to Christchurch on the Grove and especially to their Paula Smith, for helping us make such a success of the Wharfedale Festival of Piano in October.

After at least a year’s break due to Covid restrictions, an event unheard of for a festival which continued through two world wars, we were delighted to welcome our young and talented pianists to two days of performances before Federation of Festivals Adjudicator, Caroline Clemmow. This was followed on the Friday evening by an Awards’ ceremony with prizes presented by the Lord Mayor of Bradford, Cllr Shabir Hussain, the Deputy Mayor of Ilkley, Cllr Ros Brown and Adam Cox of Wharfedale Pianos at Bolton Abbey. Our own President Blanche Woollin was also pressed into thanking long serving committee members Evelyn van Terheyden and Gordon Hunter when she presented them with their 25 year voluntary service badges from the Federation.

Wednesday’s sessions opened with a welcome from the Platform to the non-competitive classes for year 4 and under, which were a delight: the adjudicator spoke encouragingly of the use of ‘loud and soft’ effects from pedals to vary the impression made by repeats in the pieces. She praised the duets as good training in listening to one’s partner to maintain balance.

The day progressed through the year groups with solos and duets from children up to school year 5 in the morning, year 7 in the afternoon and  Piano Recitals in the evening from year 8, then by year12 and under. Allan Zeng aged 8 was the winner of the former but also the final performance of the evening playing in the Year 12 and under Piano Solo. At each stage, the Adjudicator increased her advice to the performers about working on more difficult sections of the music and bringing pieces to life for the audience by varying speed and tone. At one point she commented that the impressive play she was hearing must have been due to” something magical in the Ilkley water” and that in reality everyone was a winner for overcoming nerves in order to perform.

Thursday’s classes were devoted to those playing Grade 5 pieces with performers from Years 10 to 12 and under in the afternoon and Grade 7 or 8 and Diploma Holders in the evening. This time the adjudicator built on her earlier comments about judicious use of the soft pedal to vary the colours in playing, especially on a grand piano where it could give an extra dimension to the effect. To exemplify her comments she gave several demonstrations throughout the day of how dynamic variety could be achieved using the pedals, especially when the range of notes was not large.

The Friday concert evening of performances and presentations opened with a welcome from the General Secretary to the guests: the Lord Mayor of Bradford, The Deputy Mayor of Ilkley and Adam Cox of Wharfedale pianos who provided the instrument for the performances. This was followed by a presentation of flowers to Ivy Wailes who had organised the Dance Championship in Guiseley on our behalf for 14 years before she had to retire from it due to illness in 2019. Many prizes were awarded in addition to the £300 Bursary, with four sets of performers in the more advanced classes also being offered VIP tickets to Concert Evenings in Leeds courtesy of the International Piano Competition. 

The evening finished with performances from previous Bursary winners and the presentation of this year’s Study Award Bursary to Leon Price by Krish Desha Beerachee who had won it previously.

The final rather emotional note of the day came with the speeches of thanks to Evelyn van Terheyden who had organised the Festival of Piano for many years and was now moving away from Ilkley for family reasons. Evelyn thanked all the parents who had supported their children and added that the concert’s prize winning performers did not truly represent everyone as even those who did not win gained in confidence simply by performing in public.  Effusive thanks were expressed publicly and personally as she was given a Betty’s hamper to remind her of us all. She will be greatly missed.

Thank you again to all who supported us. The 115th was a much reduced festival in view of this year’s difficulties but we are planning on returning for our 116th May Speech and Drama( plus Choirs) Festival in May, so please do volunteer to help us if you can."