Young Musician of the Year Showcases Breadth of Talent

13 Mar 2018 08:04
Published by: Dave Fletcher

This year’s Bolton School Boys’ Division Young Musician of the Year competition once again showcased a wealth of talent on another joyous evening of accomplished musicianship.

This year’s adjudicator was Jacqueline Tinniswood from Westholme Junior School and she was presented with the unenviable task of choosing a Junior and Senior winner from a collection of winners.

In its 14th year, the competition had actually begun in mid-January, as hundreds of boys took part in heats in seven instrumental categories.

The field was whittled down to 84 semi-finalists – 12 performers, six senior and six junior, in each of the seven classes.

Lasting the whole day, the semi final saw 14 pupils become winners in their instrument class – Jamie Death and Will Hardy were junior and senior winners in the Brass category, William Miles and Alex Gao were winners in the Piano/Organ section, Mark Liu and Victor Chow in Strings, Anuj Mishra and Adam Whitmore in the Vocals category, Daniel Morris and Tom Paterson in Woodwind instruments, Jacob Hughes and James Stevens in the Guitar section and Laurence Britton and Henry Webb in the Percussion category; each of these boys took away a trophy on the final night. 

After considerable deliberation, the Junior Winner (Years 7-9) was announced as pianist William Miles from Year 9 and percussionist Henry Webb from Year 13 was awarded the Senior (Years 10-13) prize. Each boy took away a cash prize of £100, a winner’s trophy and had their name engraved on the Young Musician of the Year plaques which are on permanent display in school. 

There were also trophies and cash prizes for the Junior Young Composer of the Year, George Seddon and Senior Young Composer, Jean-Paul Asumu. A Most Promising Performer award went to Year 10 pupil Thomas Yates.

Director of Music in the Boys’ Division, Mr Bleasdale, said: “Once again, it has been an exceptional evening of music. My sincere thanks go to Jacqueline Tinniswood for judging and to our accompanists, Ms Lien, Mrs Colgan and Mrs Whitmore, to Mr Forgrieve for his help on many fronts and to Mr Deakin for making everything sound so great.

"Finally, thanks also go to the boys – and their individual music teachers – for their hard work and for providing us with a wealth of wonderful music over the last two months.”

The 4 winners are pictured - Henry Webb (Senior Young Musician of the Year) George Seddon (Junior Young Composer), Jean-Paul Asumu (Senior Young Composer) and William Miles (Junior Young Musician of the Year).

Picture: KKP Photography

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