THE fantastic Salisbury Area Young Musicians (SAYM) 28th annual Spring Spectacular production took place at the City Hall on March 12, writes Richard Maguire.

Three wonderfully varied programmes saw over 350 young musicians play pieces as diverse as a string variation on Meghan Trainor’s All About That Bass; a choir and orchestra production of Karl Jenkins’ Adiemus; the Jazz Band playing intricate and complex numbers such as Birdland and It Don’t Mean A Thing.

However, the pleasure and beauty of young music shone through with the finales of each concert. This year they were chosen from the BBC’s list of ten classical pieces that children should experience.

In each finale, all the separate bands and players of each day’s concert, around 150, joined together to play at full breadth and volume the orchestral versions of Mars from the Holst Planet Suite; Night on a bare mountain by Mussorgsky and Mambo from West Side story.

Françoise Wynn, chairman of Friends of SAYM, oversaw several important presentations during concert change arounds, including recognising individual players who receive the SAYM ‘Legacy Instruments’.

However, most important was the recognition of Robert Priestly, who as SAYM manager had overseen the transition of the charitable status of the group following the closure of the Wiltshire Music Service.

Robert received a superb collage picture of previous concert programmes and photographs.

Patron, Rosemary Squires MBE, was also in attendance to inspire the musician of today.

As she said to the players: “Keep making music, because whether professional or just in your room at home, you will find human fulfilment."