Petersfield Music Festival Concerts were held in Petersfield Festival Hall and at St Peter's Church between 15-23 March, showcasing local musical talent with young and up-and-coming performers as well as internationally acclaimed artists. A total of eleven concerts were given with over 2,100 tickets sold, 766 performers - of which 345 were students representing eleven local schools. There was a strong OC presence, with OCs Rachel Newberry (20), Lucy Humphris (14), Ben Stegall (20), Em Sefton-Smith (15) and Maddie Walker-Moffitt (20) performing across the week at various concerts as part of the Festival.

Rachel Newberry (voice) and Rebecca McNaught (cello) gave outstanding performances at the lunch time concert in St Peter's Church on 19 March, for recipients of grants from the Michael Hurd Fund for Young Musicians. Rachel's programme was comprised of several art songs and arias from different Operas varying from Mozart to Bizet. Mark Dance accompanied Rachel as pianist and is also Musical Director at St Peter's Church. Rachel, is now a second year student at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire.  Rachel said 'I love getting to perform in concerts, especially when I get to come back to Petersfield and other surrounding areas. The concert was in St Peter's Church, which is of course a venue that Churcher's uses for a good proportion of their concerts so it was really lovely getting another chance to sing there again...'

On the evening of 19 March 'The Gemini Consort' singers were directed by Lucy Humphris, whose career now spans that of accomplished trumpeter, composer and conductor. The singing of solos and duets were shared around the choir, including Lucy as she demonstrated yet another impressive musical talent.

Churcher's College also joined forces with other local schools to give the two youth Concerts on Monday 18 and Wednesday 20 March. The Jazz Band, which is a combination of the Churcher's College Jazz Band and TPS Swing Band, was conducted by Helen Purchase, Head of Music at Churcher's College. The joint wind band is also a combination of Churcher's Junior School Wind Band and TPS Wind Band and was conducted by Joe James, Teacher of Music at Churcher's College. Churcher's College also provided musicians to accompany the joint choir items.

It is wonderful to see ongoing links between current Churcher's musicians and OC musicians who were all performing at the Petersfield Music Festival Concerts and it is great to see the local community music scene flourishing!