The very best musical talent from our secondary schools came together for a series of memorable performances at Saltcoats Town Hall last week.
They were competing in the North Ayrshire Young Musician of the Year Competition – an annual celebration of North Ayrshire’s Musical talent, sponsored by the Rhona Reid Charitable Trust and Scottish Young Musicians.
Vocalists Kamryn Cairns (Irvine Royal Academy) and Kerris Brawley (Greenwood Academy) were magnificent and were celebrated as the worthy runners-up in the competition. However, it was talented clarsach player Stella McIntyre from St Matthew’s Academy who stole the show and received the accolade of North Ayrshire’s Young Musician of the Year.
The adjudicators, Fraser Anderson and Phil Gault, explained that they were humbled by the musicality, complexity and characterisation of Stella’s captivating melodic interpretation which had the audience completely transfixed.
Runner-up Kamryn wowed the audience with her emotional rendition of character Miranda’s ‘Burn’ from Hamilton the Musical, followed by Adele’s smash hit ‘Remedy’ written by Atkins and Tedder.
Kerris impressed with her charismatic take of Judy Garland’s classic ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ from the Wizard of Oz written by Harold Arlen, followed by Bond theme ‘Skyfall’ co-written by Adele and Thomas Newman.
After presenting the prizes at the competition on Thursday 13 February, North Ayrshire Provost Anthea Dickson said:
“It has been a great privilege and delight to be here to witness first-hand the incredible talent of young people in North Ayrshire.
“A huge congratulations to every musician – you are a credit to your parents, your schools and your community. We are so immensely proud of you.
“A special mention also to our Music Service and Music Departments who are clearly doing a brilliant job teaching and mentoring some truly outstanding musicians."
