A supremely gifted teenage cornet player will join the best young musicians in North Wales at a spectacular concert on the shores of the Menai Strait.
Fourteen year-old Pippa Scourse has a talent as spectacular as the view from Plas Newydd, home to the open air concert of the year, Summer Night Jazz, a two day festival of music, July 7-8.
Pippa, who has been playing cornet since she was five, is on her way to the prestigious Junior Northern Royal College of Music this September where her exceptional ability has been recognised for special tuition at the Manchester school’s Saturday sessions.
She will be just one of more than 200 youngsters from Anglesey, Gwynedd and Denbighshire performing at the Sunday night concert, which begins at 6pm.
Topping the bill on the Saturday night is jazz sensation Anthony Strong who will be following in the footsteps of all-time greats like Humphrey Lyttleton and Acker Bilk.
Local Brazilian Latin band, Banda Bacana, will be generating a carnival atmosphere and there will also be a New Orleans-style jazz ensemble made up of members of Beaumaris Brass Band.
After an absence of seven years, the festival was revived last year and was a big hit with the thousands of jazz lovers thanks to the support of the Gaerwen-based home improvement specialists, Peninsula.
As part of their support package, Peninsula help fund a bursary scheme to foster young musical talent. It is co-funded by Art and Business Cymru via their Arts and Kids scheme.
The idea of the bursary, run in conjunction with the Caernarfon-based Gwasanaeth Ysgolion William Mathias (William Mathias Schools’ Service), is to provide talented young musicians access to expert tuition they might otherwise not been able to afford.
Many of the young performers taking part in the county ensembles on the Sunday night are benefitting from the service.
Pippa, from Menai Bridge, said: “I was always really interested in music and my family are all musical and that helps.
“I used to love watching brass bands like Beaumaris and my sister Ros’ played percussion in the band,” she said.
Pippa’s mother, Margaret, is a violin teacher who works with the Gwasanaeth Ysgolion William Mathias, which provides tuition and instruments to promote music amongst the youngsters of Anglesey, Gwynedd and Denbighshire.
It will be the Service’s weekend residential workshop for their wind and brass bands, choirs and soloists, held in the Conwy Centre, which culminates in the Sunday night concert.
“When Pip was four she used to watch Gavin Saynor, tuba player in Beaumaris Brass Band and she would say I am going to play the cornet one day,” said Margaret.
Lead tutor with the William Mathias Schools’ Service, Gwyn Evans, is the driving force behind Summer Night Jazz. Gwyn, who also plays the trumpet and sings, will also be performing with his band, Dr Jazz.
Gwyn, who is also musical director of the multi-award winning Beaumaris Brass Band, is also Pippa’s tutor and has overseen her progress to Grade 8, passing each grade with a distinction.
Pippa’s father James is a science lecturer at Bangor University, but is also a cellist, as is her other sister Rebecca, 25.
Pippa practises every hour she can. “I want to go to musical college when I’m 18 and I want to be a soloist. If I really like it I will be a soloist but if I don’t I want to be a principle trumpet player,” she said.
Her recent successes include the Urdd where she won the brass solo 12-14 years, and four wins in the North Wales Brass Band Association’s competitions. She also won under 15 brass solo at Chester Festival.
In September she will be competing with Beaumaris Brass Ban in the British Open Championships at the Symphony Hall in Birmingham and in the National Brass Band Championships at the Royal Albert Hall in October.
Pippa is a member of the Jazz Youth Orchestra of Wales and at their recent residential course was the youngest there by far.
“I like all kinds of music but I like listening to brass bands, I really like the sound but I prefer performing in orchestras. If you want to get a job there are no jobs in brass bands, an orchestra is the only way.
“I like jazz as well, it’s really relaxed and it doesn’t matter if you get it wrong.”
Gwyn said: “Pippa is extremely talented and she will have a go at anything, which is something I encourage. I do a lot with classical, brass, jazz.
“The Festival is very important, to me it is a marriage of the Saturday night concert when we bring in outside talent and the Sunday night when we involve local musicians, local people and youth.
“It is an important vehicle with which we can open doors and educate young audiences and musicians.”
For more information about Summer Night Jazz and how to book tickets go to http://www.plasnewyddjazz.com/
