Banbury festival launches fundraising appeal to create more opportunities for young musicians
The Banbury Early Music Festival has launched a fundraising appeal to provide young musicians with more opportunities to learn and perform.
Organisers of the festival hope to raise £1,000 to create more educational and performance opportunities for young musicians at next year's event.
Founded by Dylan McCaig, Heidi Fardell and Alison Kinder in 2023, the festival has quickly become an established part of Banbury's cultural calendar.
Over the past three years, it has attracted internationally acclaimed performers from across the country and drawn hundreds of music fans to the town.
The festival has also welcomed pupils from The Warriner School's award-winning Baroque ensemble, local recorder students, members of the National Youth Recorder Orchestra and students from the Junior Royal Academy of Music.
One former performer, 17-year-old recorder player Alma Nunez Debretzeni, from St Albans, appeared at the festival in 2025 and recently reached the grand final of BBC Young Musician 2026.
Organisers hope to build on these successes by introducing further educational workshops, opportunities to work with professional musicians and additional performance platforms for young talent.
They said: “We are incredibly proud of what the festival has achieved in such a short time.
“Supporting young musicians has always been central to our ambitions, and we hope this campaign will help us provide even more opportunities for the next generation to discover and perform early music.”
The £1,000 crowdfunding appeal will help fund activities for young people, alongside the costs of professional performers, instruments and venues.
Banbury Early Music Festival’s crowdfunding campaign closes at 11.59pm on Wednesday, November 25.
For more information or to donate, visit: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/banbury-early-music-festival-2027