After winning the best accolade in the UK for budding young jazz artists at the annual Music for Youth National Festival at Symphony Hall, Birmingham in the summer of 2014, we were again so filled with pride as Tomorrow’s Warriors’ TROY – one of the bands from our TW Female Collective – took part in the 2014 MFY School Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, London. Our wonderful young Warriors had the 5,000-strong audience swinging and swaying in their seats to their exciting and powerful treatment of Freddie Hubbard’s Red Clay and then grooving to band member’s Scarlett Stewart’s own composition, Midnight. See just how enthusiastic some audience members were on social media (thanks guys!):
It was indeed a fantastic sight to behold as our girls – aged 16-19 years – confidently stepped up onto the main stage inside this iconic London venue and took command of their set with gusto.
Over three nights, 3,000 young musicians took to the stage, where the aim was to spotlight the stars of tomorrow with a mix of classical, folk, jazz, indie and urban music recitals across three distinctive themes: Metamorphosis, Freedom and Words.
TW Troy’s choice of tunes under the Freedom theme were definitely crowd pleasers. Nonetheless, the challenge the girls faced performing in front of such a large and eclectic audience, in the round, and presenting one of their original compositions, cannot be overstated as this could quite easily cause many an experienced musician to falter. However, the training and support received through our Young Artist Development Programme, bolstered by the additional support received as members of our Female Collective, enabled our Warriors to bring all their musical talents and skills to the fore on a night of 1,000 musicians.
No wonder our up and coming sextet were the winners of this summer’s Music for Youth Best Jazz Ensemble Award. They are pure magic and have real crowd appeal!!!
See the girls relaxing in their dressing room minutes after their live performance in our snapshot: (l-r) Sahvannah Fekarurhobo (tenor saxophone) Scarlett Stewart (piano) Romarna Campbell (drums) Sheila Maurice-Grey (trumpet & music mentor) Richie Seivwright (trombone) Brianna Ste.-Croix (double bass).
Congratulations ladies!
We are so proud of their achievement stepping out on one of the world’s most famous and prestigious main venues, renowned for its rostra of world class performers.