Saturday 14th October 2017

The first Young Minds Matter fundraising concert in October 2017 was held in the beautiful purpose-built performance venue, Warwick Hall auditorium. It featured 70 talented young musicians, from 5 local secondary schools and music groups, together with some inspirational speakers, video footage, an auction and a raffle. The evening was incredibly well received by both the 300-strong audience and the young participants, especially for bringing mental health out into the open in such an informative and uplifting format.

Saturday 9th March 2019

Our second Young Minds Matter fundraising concert brought us to one of the most visited churches in the country, the renowned Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon, often known as Shakespeare’s Church, due to its fame as the place of baptism and burial of William Shakespeare. Almost 100 talented young musicians took part, many of them returning performers from the 2017 concert. The church was packed with an audience keen to hear our amazing young performers and inspirational speakers. Once again, this raised awareness of the mental health challenges facing our young people in an open and uplifting manner.

Some of the young talent from our previous concerts:

The exquisite voice of Yasmin Corbett

In 2017 at our first concert, Yasmin took to the stage, aged just 12, and sang a song called ‘Dear Porcupines’. She chose this song herself as she said it was about bullying and she thought it reflected the cause. She enchanted the audience with her beautiful voice and at our 2019 concert she chose to sing this song, Drown, again for the very apt lyrics. Her voice and interpretation of songs she covers are always a delight to witness.

A standing ovation for Mary Eckert

Mary simply wowed the audience at our 2017 concert with her version of Andra Day’s Rise Up, which was just so close to the original. Just 16 years old at the time, Mary showed such maturity and relaxed confidence at the piano and the standing ovation she received was deservedly justified! She wowed us again at the 2019 concert, and now studying song writing in Leeds.

Phenomenal piano playing by Sam Young

We first spotted Sam when he returned to his school during a gap year in 2018, and watching his amazing skills at the piano, we just knew we had to book him for our next concert! He then played this phenomenal piece at our concert in 2019, and he also kindly offered to accompany any other performers on the night, which he did, with seamless ease and true professionalism, especially from someone who was still a teenager at the time! This video shows part of the piece Sam arranged himself, which is described as ‘a five-minute, beautiful massacre of musical genres’.  In September 2020 Sam joined the Royal Academy of Music.