13 May 2026
Shropshire Music Service’s World Folk Ensemble took to the stage last week as support act for the Budapest Café Orchestra.
In collaboration with the Shropshire Music Trust, students of the ensemble experienced an evening of world-class music. Established by award-winning British composer, violinist and teach Christian Garrick, the electrifying 4-piece Budapest Café Orchestra performed gypsy and folk-flavoured music, including traditional Balkan, Russian, Hungarian and Romanian tunes, with jazz. Specialists of the ‘distilled concerto’, they artfully rework masterpieces by the greats of the Romantic era. Not so much a band name as a whole genre of its own!
[Photograph credit: Katy Rink, Shropshire Music Trust]
World Folk Ensemble students presented a 20 minute set as support act to the main headliners, which gave them a fantastic opportunity to hone their stagecraft skills and then learn from the masters. Performing at the Blackburn Theatre, Prestfelde School, students took to the stage in front of a packed audience. Thanks to the support of Shropshire Music Trust, students were then able to take their own place in the audience and watch the full set from the Budapest Café Orchestra.
Caroline Nowotarski, leader of the World Folk Ensemble, describes the opportunity as ‘valuable experience’ for the students, remarking ‘it was definitely a different feeling to be supporting such a great band in front of a packed audience.’
