Mrs Renshaw receives Conductors Prize from Llangollen International Music Eisteddfod

With previous winners being from Wales and Indonesia, Angela is the first Cornish Conductor to have been awarded this prize and was selected from over 30 children’s choirs during the festival.

Mary Weston, a representative from Llangollen and Joint President of the St Austell and District Soroptimists Club, visited the school to award Angela the Conductors Prize for the children’s choir category.

Truro Prep School’s Chamber Choir travelled up to Llangollen to perform on the main stage in the Junior Children’s Choir category during the international festival. The students were delighted when they were awarded 3^rd place in the competition, being the only competitor to represent Cornwall in the festival.

Angela, who conducted the choir, was later awarded her Conductors Prize, an award given to recognise the most inspiring conductor during Eisteddfod and to celebrate work with getting children and young people into music.

“This is the result of many years of hard work, with hundreds of children going through the prep school and it’s with thanks to everybody who has been involved over the years and has helped get us to this standard. Vocal opportunities within the school are so important and to share something like this on an international stage is quite amazing,” said Angela.

Angela Renshaw not only serves Truro Prep School as the Head of Music, but also works for Cornwall Music Education Hub and is the Vocal Strategy Lead for developing singing in Cornish primary and secondary schools.

Responsible for directing the Cornwall County Choirs, including the boys, girls and the County Youth Choir, Angela also recently led the County Youth Choir to perform at the opening night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall last week, and it is clear to see how passionate she is about getting young people into music.

Olivia Grigg, a Year 6 pupil from Truro Prep School who performed at Llangollen, said that it was “inspirational to be on stage with Mrs Renshaw” at the festival this year.

Head of Truro Prep, Sarah Patterson, who accompanied the choir on their trip to Llangollen, said:

“I was so proud of the children, not just for their singing which was amazing, but for the amount of people who were coming up to congratulate them, there was a lot of high praise for the way they conducted themselves. It was wonderful to see them all cheering when they were announced as third and when Mrs Renshaw was given a special mention for conductor, the children all ran up and grabbed her which was very special to see.”

Finally, Mrs Renshaw expressed her thanks to all the parents who attended the festival with the choir, stating that it was the community effort that made all the difference on the day:

“It was so nice to have so many parents there because I know if we hadn’t done so well they would have scooped us up but to have them there supporting and cheering us on really did encourage the children and certainly me a lot, it was quite unique I thought, it sounds cliché but it really did make a massive difference.”