While most of us were enjoying the Royal Wedding and the weekend sunshine, budding musicians of all ages were devoting their Bank Holiday to some serious music-making at the Abingdon Music Festival. Sunday night’s concert featured the cream of the crop. Participants ranged from the endearingly small to the impressively experienced. Little Priya Berks, the first of several piano soloists, could only just reach the pedals, but she played with poise and maturity, exuding confidence through every pore. In contrast, the final performer of the evening, singer James Mitchell, had his grandchildren in the audience as he delivered the Prologue from Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci with gusto.

The first half was devoted mainly to the younger participants, and there were some incredible performances. One of the stand-outs for me was that of violinist Alexander Dawkins, who handled Massenet’s difficult Meditation from Thaïs with exceptional competence, producing a clear, sweet and well-controlled sound. His intonation slipped occasionally, but overall this was an impressive performance. Flautist Amy Aron-Muellbauer also managed a technically intricate piece, Miyagi’s Haro No Umi, with great skill, while Chantal Olavsesen revealed a lovely singing voice in Vaughan Williams’s The Turtle Dove, Charlotte Tuffill brought out the humour in Perry’s The Frog, and there were proficient recitals by oboist Phoebe Alexander and pianists Jemima Goodall, Leon Wu, Jenny Bae and Angel Jin.

In the second half, stand-out performances came from Heather Conder in a lively rendition of Wouldn’t it be loverly from My Fair Lady; from Laurens Price-Nowak, who produced a lovely tone in the first movement of Elgar’s Cello Concerto; and from Joanna Sparks (cornet), Gilly McMullin (cello), Emma Kollien-Gjerde (piano), Lizzie Mundell-Perkins (violin) and flautists James Westlake and Jolanta Modelska.

For more details about the Abingdon Music Festival, visit www.abmusfest.org.uk.