Cambridge Community Music Festival (CCMF)

Providing a nurturing and supportive performing platform for aspiring amateur musicians of all ages, and all backgrounds,  in our community

A bit of history….

Emilie Lewis, founder of the annual Cambridge Competitive Music Festival, studied singing, piano and dramatic art at The Royal Academy in London. With help from her father, who offered to buy her a building in which to teach if she found just five pupils, she started the Mackenzie School, just off Mill Road in 1923. Tuesday nights were performance nights and soon these were overflowing with performers and their families. The success of these led to Emilie setting up the Cambridge Competitive Music Festival in the 1930s. This became a huge annual event held at The Guildhall and hosted by Cambridge City Council. Featuring music, dance and speech and drama, adjudicators were engaged to give feedback and present cups to the winners.

Unfortunately, the Council decided to pull out some fifty years ago, at which point Frances Brownlie, who ran Sky Blue Theatre Company based in Sawston took it over and worked tirelessly for many years to keep the festival going.

After a plea for volunteers to take over the music section of the festival Rex Freeman stepped forward (he had attended Emilie’s school, the Mackenzie School and participated in the festival as a boy) and formed a committee to save it.

In 2024 Rex and his volunteers decided to pass on the baton to Thanea Hodges, who, along with many of the current team have been instrumental in working with Cambridge’s music community to raise funds for good causes. This team has now successfully gained charity status (Registered Charity no. 1208965) and has changed its name to the Cambridge Community Music Festival to better reflect the broader community whom they would like to attract to participate.

There is so much to do! With the advent of online exams, where performers record themselves via computer, there are fewer and fewer affordable opportunities for aspiring musicians to hone their skills in a live situation.

If you feel inspired by what you read please join one of our fundraising events or contact us on contact@ccmf.uk to find out more.

We need further volunteers to keep this part of our heritage alive and give performance opportunities to musicians young and old.