Star Wars concert inspires 50,000 North Wales children

The show, featuring a dramatic lightsaber duel, is part of a musical experience for 50,000 schoolchildren across Wrexham, Denbighshire, and Conwy.

Performed by the Make Some Noise Band from the North Wales Music Cooperative, the band blasted out the iconic Imperial March.

The performance was part of a concert series being streamed to 150 primary schools and staged in 23 secondary schools across the three counties.

Pictured Front (L to R) Sara Davies, Sioned Terry, Matty Roberts, Emily Rowlands , Dylan Cernyw, Wyn Pearson, James Corbett, Ben Neal, Matt Deacon, Aled Williams, Scott Lloyd and Rhianwen Tonon (Image: Mandy Jones)

Wyn Pearson, artistic lead for the North Wales Music Cooperative, said: "The purpose of the concerts is to give the youngsters a chance to enjoy themselves, to sing along and dance if they want.

"We also want to encourage and inspire those who don't play musical instruments to maybe think about taking one up.

"It's a great thing to do.

"We've been doing these concerts for a few years now and this time we asked the youngsters themselves who their favourite singers are and to name their favourite songs.

"We've taken the results on board which is why we're doing the Star Wars theme.

"The movie is 50 years old this year but still a favourite and it'll be on S4C in Welsh this Christmas.

"Then we've got Michael Jackson's Thriller and a bit of K-Pop as well as a song by Bwncath and we finish off with Justin Timberlake's Can't Stop the Feeling! because it's one of our favourites."

Pictured is Sara Davies (Image: Mandy Jones)

The 11-piece band, based in Denbigh, is touring to inspire children to enjoy music, take up an instrument and learn to sing.

All members are music tutors from the cooperative, which provides music education to children and young people across the region.

Princess Leia was played by award-winning mezzo-soprano Sioned Terry from Abergele.

The other soloist was Old Colwyn’s Sara Davies, a former winner of the Cân i Gymru (Song for Wales) competition.

Pictured James Corbett as Darth Vader during the performance (Image: Mandy Jones)

Ms Davies said: "Singing with the Make Some Noise band is something I really enjoy doing.

"It's great fun working with such talented musicians and singing songs I would normally never sing on my own.

"The songs this year are ones the children all know and love and it's great knowing that they are probably singing along with us.

"Music is very important because it not only helps young people express themselves, but also helps them discover who they are and feel better about themselves."

Singers (L to R): Sara Davies, Matty Roberts and Sioned Terry (Image: Mandy Jones)

Ms Terry said: "It's great to sing with a band and perform songs to such a large number of young people.

"The Make Some Noise project is a wonderful initiative and hopefully it will continue to be successful."

The North Wales Music Cooperative delivers weekly music education to around 5,000 children.

Cllr Mark Young, chair of the cooperative, said: "The musicians and singers from Make Some Noise are an absolutely brilliant band and I am sure they will inspire lots of the young people who hear them to get involved in music."