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Senior School pupils gathered at St Michael’s Church in Highgate last week for the annual Young Musician of the Year competition, in partnership with London Academy of Excellence, Tottenham.

Showcasing a range of vocal and instrumental performances, the 13 finalists presented an exhilarating programme of music ranging from Faure to Fleetwood Mac. The competition was adjudicated by professional musicians, conductor Charlotte Corderoy and concert pianist Martin Cousin, who gave detailed feedback to each of the participants, presenting the following awards:

Young Instrumentalist of the Year Award went to Steven (Y10) on the Viola, for his performance of Forsyth’s Concerto in G Minor.

The John Rutter Young Singer of the Year Award went to Oscar (Y13) for his performances of ‘Beautiful City’ from Godspell and ‘I Want to Make Magic’ from Fame.

Runner up awards were presented to Y13 pupils Leonardo and Sadie (Vocal) and Christopher, Y11 (Flute), along with a selection of highly commended performances from the heats.

The Young Musician of the Year event is always a highlight of the school’s musical calendar, and this year saw more than 90 individual performances from the two schools during the heats. The competition is designed to encourage the skills of high-level performance and support the pupils with classes in performance practice, stagecraft and combating stage-fright.

Stuart King, Head of Woodwind and Percussion, who coordinated the event alongside James Way, Head of Vocal Studies, concluded: “The competition keeps growing every year; not just in the number of pupils entering in total, but ever more talented young musicians from Years 7 and 8. This is a testament to the dedication and hard work of pupils, teachers and supportive parents enabling pupils at both schools to flourish. The standard really has been phenomenally high! It was wonderful to welcome Deiniol and Maria from LAET; two very engaging and exciting artists. Deiniol wrote and performed his own rap tracks, which was a welcome new discipline to the competition format, and one that proved to be very popular on the night.”

“Whilst there are inevitably two winners and recipients of prizes, we have designed this event to be as warm and friendly as possible. All pupils receive constructive encouraging feedback at the Heats and there was tremendous peer support in evidence at St. Michael’s. The applause and cheers from the audience proof positive that music at LAET/Highgtate is greatly cherished by the whole school community.”

Find out more about Music in the Senior School in our brochure here.