Kilgraston Young Musician Of The Year 2023
Kilgraston Young Musician Of The Year showcases the tremendous musical talent we have in school and last week saw the culmination of the 2023 competition with parents, families and staff attending the event.
More than 50 pupils submitted performances for the heats stage of the competition in various different categories with the shortlist going through to play in the final concerts for both Junior School and Senior School.
After opening performances by last year’s winners, Caitlin and Emma, the serious business of the competition began with all finalists performing brilliantly, making for some very difficult decisions. We were very lucky to welcome Mr Matthew Beetschen as our guest adjudicator for the evening who had the unenviable job of deciding the winners from the superb talent on display and we are very grateful for his expertise and wise words to the performers.
Congratulations to all our finalists and to the overall winners in Junior School, Sophie, and Senior School winner, Lower Sixth’s Anne.
Kilgraston’s Young Musician of the Year 2022
Kilgraston’s Young Musician of the Year has burst back into our calendar this year with an enraptured audience soaking up the many talents of the finalists.
From the tinkering of film scores like ‘Amelie’ and ‘Les Miserables’ to instrumental pieces such as Street Tango by Astor Piazzolla, there was a wide range of genres and instruments on display. Over 60 talented musicians from up and down the school had entered into the initial competition before the 20 finalists were selected. Kilgraston welcomed Dollar Academy’s Director of Music, Mrs Karol Fitzpatrick as the independent adjudicator to the event, which took place in March 2022. Mrs Fitzpatrick commended the pupils, thanking them for their performances before giving a detailed adjudication, full of positive comments and feedback for the performers.
The overall winners were Upper Third’s Caitlin, Junior School Young Musician of the Year, and Lower Sixth’s Manon, who won Young Musician of the Year, Senior School.
Mr Andrew Morley, Kilgraston’s Director of Music, said: “Kilgraston has a strong musical tradition with a superb quality of musicianship across a wide range of instruments and genres. It is something we are incredibly proud of and this year’s Young Musician Of The Year showcases the incredible talents of our pupils. Well done to everyone who took part and thank you to our adjudicator Mrs Fitzpatrick who had some difficult decisions to make so well done to Manon and Caitlin, this year’s Young Musicians of the Year in our Senior and Junior School categories and to all our category winners and runners up.”
You can watch the competition below.
Beginner Class
Runner Up - Elsie – Piano (Lower Third)
Winner - Eliza – Flute (Lower Second)
Junior Singing Class
Runner Up - Sophie (Lower Third)
Winner- Caitlin (Upper Third)
Junior Piano Class
Winner - Darcy (Lower Third)
Junior Instrumental Class
Winner - Sofia – Violin (Lower Second)
Overall Junior Winner – Caitlin (Upper Third)
Intermediate Piano Class
Runner Up - Olivia (Lower Four)
Winner - Liliya (Lower Sixth)
Intermediate Instrumental Class
Runner Up - Francesca - Flute (Lower Fifth)
Winner - Jenny - Violin (Upper Four)
Intermediate Singing Class
Runner Up - Erin (Upper Fifth)
Winner - Chloe (Lower Four)
Advanced Piano Class
Runner Up - Pak Wai (Upper Fifth)
Winner - Emma (Lower Fifth)
Advanced Singing Class
Runner Up - Maia (Lower Fifth)
Runner Up - Laura (Upper Fifth)
Winner - Hannah-Rose (Upper Sixth)
Advanced Instrumental Class
Runner Up - Janna (Upper Fifth) – Violin
Runner Up – Isabel (Upper Sixth) – Cello
Winner - Manon (Lower Sixth) - Violin
Overall Senior Winner and Kilgraston Young Musician 2022 - Manon (Lower Sixth)
Kilgraston’s Young Musician of the Year 2021
Music runs to the heart of Kilgraston and Kilgraston’s Young Musician of the Year competition is always one of the annual musical highlights.
Every year the standard of musicality is outstanding and even though this year, the competition was performed virtually, the pupils’ talents are clear. As Kilgraston’s Director of Music, Mr McAuley says, “You really are exceptional young musicians.”
So it is with immense pleasure that we can announce this year’s Senior School competition winners.
The Grade 3 and 4 class was a large class, so we have numerous positions to highlight. The results are as follow:
Winner: Martha, L5 Voice Feed the Birds, Sherman
2nd Place: Emily, L5 Guitar Yesterday, Lennon and McCartney
3rd Place: Maia, U4 Voice & Guitar Closer
In addition, the following two are Highly Commended:
Lexie, U5 Flute Chasing Pavements, Adele
Isla, U4 Piano Walking in the Air, Blake
In the grade 5 and 6 class the winner was:
Emily, L5 Piano Princess Mononoke (Ashitaka and San), Hisaishi
Before the Easter holidays, we were also delighted in being able to announce our Junior School Young Musician of the Year.
Huge well done to everyone who took part. We would also like to say thank you to Mr McAuley for organising, to Mr Cormack and Mr Murch for accompanying, and Mr Pryke for the recording.
You can enjoy performances from our 2020 winners, Olivia in our Junior School and Emma in our Senior School, as well as watch our 2021 Open Class where the winner of Kilgraston’s Senior Young Musician of the Year 2021 is announced…enjoy.
Kilgraston Junior School Young Musician Of The Year 2021
Kilgraston’s Young Musician Of The Year 2021 Competition has been underway over the past few weeks.
This year, pupils are sending in their entries via video with the Junior School competition now judged and we are delighted to announce that Upper Third’s Lucy Moran is this year’s Junior Young Musician Of The Year. Congratulations Lucy and to everyone who entered. Results are below.
Junior Years: Junior Open Class (Grade 3 or above)
1st Place: Lucy, U3, Flute I Got Rhythm, Gershwin
Highly Commended: Chloe, U3, Voice Can We Sew Cushions, Burns
Junior Years: Grade 2 Class
1st Place: Heidi U3, Piano Gigue a l’Angloise, Telemann
Junior Years: Beginner/Grade 1 Class
1st Place: Sally L3, Clarinet Blue Monday, Rae
2nd Place: Sophie, U2, Piano One and a Half Minute Waltz, Duro
3rd Place: Georgiana, L2, Piano The Detective, Wedgwood
Highly Commended: Eliza, U1, Flute Springtime, Pollock
You can watch Lucy’s winning performance below and the results of our Senior School competition will be announced after the Easter holidays.