Following a successful day of music making in which 350 performances took place in January, the Junior and Intermediate Young Musician of the Year finals took place in March. On Friday 14 March, we were delighted to welcome Claire Hobbs to adjudicate the Intermediate Competition, a final which included pupils from grade 6 to 8. She commented on the breadth of instrumental performances coupled with the clear commitment to performance and interpretation shown. After performance from 16 pupils, Nikhil was awarded highly commended, Toby was placed 3rd whilst Tom was the runner-up. With his committed performance on the trombone, Josh was awarded the accolade of Young Musician of the Year for the intermediate category.

A week later, on Friday 21 March, we were delighted to welcome Richard Coppack, Director of Music from Elstree School, to adjudicate our junior competition, a competition final for pupils up to grade 6 standard. Opening with a performance in the chapel on the organ, the evening featured performances on drum kit, trumpet, trombone, piano, oboe and clarinet. With 16 performances to choose from, Mr Coppack gave the position of highly commended to Harish for his precise organ playing, 3rd place to Reuben for his committed trombone playing whilst Edward was awarded runner-up for his superb flute performance. It was Benji who was awarded the Junior Young Musician of the Year award for a technically and musically assured performance of the Scarlatti Sonata in E. Congratulations to all who took part and we look forward to the Advanced competition final which will take place on Tuesday 29 April.