MANDA WILDERNESS CHOIR FESTIVAL 2015 SET FOR NEW STAGE

The annual Manda Wilderness Choir Festival in northwestern Mozambique is all set to burst onto a purpose-built new stage in Cobue, Niassa Province with its intoxicating mix of song and dance on Saturday, September 5.

The Festival, now in its sixth year, will relocate from the steps of Cobue's main church to an impressive open community space alongside the area's only secondary school. Choirs drawn from every village in the surrounding region will compete to impress a panel of music professionals and a local audience of all ages and backgrounds.

The open-air stage has been built by the Manda Wilderness Community Trust, a UK-based charity which helps to support education, agriculture and conservation in an area of African wilderness the size of greater London. The Festival itself is supported by the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation (www.andrewlloydwebberfoundation.com); in addition to providing funding for the event itself, the Foundation finances a Guest Choral Director to provide professional training to the choirs in each village of the Manda Wilderness.

This year's Director, Jay Richardson, works with MWCT's local Community Project Manager Richard Stephano in thirteen villages, as well as with the Manda Wilderness Choir, an elite ensemble of singers made up of one representative from each village. Jay describes working on the Festival as one of the most refreshing experiences of his musical life.

"It's been a huge challenge and has brought a steep learning curve, but I've been overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and commitment of everyone involved," he says. "I feel that Richard and I have achieved fantastic results already, and I've enjoyed every step of the journey."

Richard views the Festival as "one of best events in the Manda Wilderness region; it brings unity among the people from all the villages we have in the area. It is also very interesting to see young people from all villages come together to form the Manda Wilderness Choir, in which they learn more techniques that will help them to be good musicians in the future. I would like to thank the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation for its support."

Details of the Festival, as well as all the MWCT's work, are available on the Trust's website at www.mandawilderness.org; you can follow the Trust on Facebook at http://on.fb.me/1Pkd37K and on Twitter @MWCTrust. For further details, contact Trust Secretary Jeremy Toye on jemtoye@gmail.com

MWCT is registered with the UK's Charity Commission, no. 1110563.

The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation was set up by Andrew in 1992 to promote the arts, culture and heritage for the public benefit; since inception Andrew has been the principal provider of funding for all its charitable activities.

In 2010, the Foundation embarked on an active grant-giving programme and has now awarded grants of over £10m to support high quality training and personal development as well as other projects that make a real difference to enrich the quality of life both for individuals and within local communities. Significant grants include £3.5m to Arts Educational Schools, London to create a state of the art professional theatre, £1m to The Architectural Heritage Fund, £1m to The Music in Secondary Schools Trust and over £350,000 annually to fund 30 performing arts scholarships for talented students in financial need.