Young Musician 2025

What is the Rotary Young Musician Competiton and how did Johnny Gray win it.  Throughout the competition Johnny was accompanied on the piano by Eilidh a S6 student at Douglas Academy.  Congratulations to Johnny and thank you Eilidh.

The 2024-25 Rotary Young Musician was for young people up to age 17 on 31st August 2024.  Music can be classical or modern.  Participants get the chance to experience performing on a public stage and receive feedback from experienced adjudicators.  

The Rotary Young Musician competition is organised over four different stages detailed below.  Within the competition there are two separate competitions for Voice and Instrument.

Local competition - For Johnny this was organised by Allander Rotary and held at Douglas Academy. As instrumental winner he then progressed to an area final along with the Voice winner. Winners of a club competition are then 'sponsored' by the club throughout the competition.

Area Final for West Coast/North Clyde/Glasgow/Lanarkshire Areas - This was one of four area finals. It was originally scheduled for Saturday 25th January, Renfield St Stephen's Parish Church, Glasgow. Due to the adverse weather conditions it was resceduled to be held on the same day as the District Final.   Competitors played in the morning with those qualifying playing again in the afternoon.

District Final (Scotland South) was be held on Sunday 23rd February in the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Renfrew Street, Glasgow.  Johnny won this competition going forward to the Scottish Final.

Scottish Regional Final was held on Saturday 8 March at Loch Leven Community Campus, Kinross, Fife. Winning this qualified Johnny to participate in the national final.

National final was held on Saturday, 29th March in Romford at New City College - Redbridge.  Competitors at this came from the national and regional clusters across Great Britain and Ireland.