Last Thursday ( February 9th) the annual Kirkcudbright Rotary Club and Kirkcudbright Academy Young Musician Competition was held in the Cochran Hall at Kikcudbright Academy.
Twenty seven extremely talented young musicians entertained an audience of over 150 enthusiastic people. A mixture of sixteen junior instrumentalists and vocalists from years S1 to S4 and eleven senior musicians from years S5 and S6 performed for an enthralled and most appreciative audience who were quite astonished at the talent on view.
The wealth of talent made the adjudication extremely difficult for the panel of three judges. Jaimie Brand, Head of Music at Annan Academy, Robert Brown, Depute at Kirkcudbright Academy and John Womersley, currently Secretary of the recent ‘Music4All’ initiative in Kirkcudbright thought and talked long and hard before naming their winners.
All the performers received Rotary Participation Certificates and were all considered to be and described as ‘winners’ in what was such a fiercely competitive event.
Presentations were made as follows:
JUNIORS
3rd Sam Gurling 3rd certificate and £10. Xylophone
2nd Luke Thomson 2nd certificate and £15. Cornet
1st Euan Donald 1st certificate £25 and a trophy. Bagpipes
SENIORS
3rd Erin Dalrymple 3rd certificate and £10. Xylophone and Vibraphone
2nd= Ailsa McCulloch 2nd certificate and £15. Flute
2nd= Nathan Syed-Tollen 2nd certificate and £15. Piano
1st Ben Garside 1st certificate £25 and a trophy. Piano
MOST PROMISING
Erin Findlay certificate and £5
The next round, the Area Round, of the Rotary Club competition will be held at Annan Academy next Thursday 16th February where there will be two categories of competition, insrumentalists and vocalists. The judges decided that the two young people who will go on to represent Kirkcudbright in this Area Final will be:
INTRUMENTALIST
Ben Garside
VOCALIST
Ellen Carr
The two winners of this Area Final are then invited to attend the District 1020 Final at the Herriot Watt University on Sunday 12th March.
The audience also enjoyed entertainment from Kirkcudbright based band ‘The Sax Pistols’
As this was a free to attend event a bucket collection was made at the exit with money going to the school Prefects’ chosen charity, ‘the Scottish Association for Mental Health’ and this raised well over £100.
