Even coronavirus lockdown can't stop the music for 800 Northamptonshire youngsters

Musicians from all over the county showcased their talents in a 'virtual' concert

Hundreds of young Northamptonshire musicians refused to be silenced by the coronavirus crisis — they took their planned concert to the worldwide web, instead.

Northampton School for Boys was due to host the annual Music for Youth Regional Festival involving more than 800 performers at the weekend.

The real-life event had to be scrapped so organisers turned it into a virtual concert instead, posting videos and recordings of performances on social media over a long weekend using the hashtag #MFYRegionalFestival.

Best of all, if you missed it all the performances are all still out there on Twitter or on a YouTube playlist to watch over and over.

Click here to see the YouTube playlist

Northampton Music and Performing Arts Trust events co-ordinator Laura Bendy said: "Most groups at the festival are from Northamptonshire with a large percentage being NMPAT county groups.

"The idea to go virtual this year came from myself and my colleague Ben Jackson. We both participated in the festival for a number of years as students and we really felt the disappointment of those current students who would be missing their opportunity.

We are now running the campaign #NMPositiviT on social media encouraging all those who would usually be participating in NMPAT activities to continue to engage with us in alternative ways and the festival weekend was a great way to launch this."

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