Rotary Young Musician of the Year 2024

Over 150 young people from many of the secondary and primary schools in the local community were at Bishop’s Stortford College on Saturday 20th April for the annual Rotary Young Musician competition. During the day, they competed in 3 age groups and 5 different musical categories – brass, piano, strings, woodwind, and vocal, shared in 3 venues between 3 expert and experienced adjudicators: Richard Balcombe – vocal, brass and junior strings; Brenda Dykes – all woodwind and senior and intermediate strings; and Jill Morton - piano. The 15 winners of these classes came back again in the evening to perform again, in the hope of winning the Overall Junior, Intermediate and Senior Awards, together with the Young Musician and Young Vocalist of the Year awards.

The Overall Junior Award was awarded to Milo Nuñez Li, an 11 year old student at Bishop’s Stortford College and a highly accomplished pianist, with Alexander Smith, a vocal, his runner up. Richard Zhang, from Hockerill College, another brilliant pianist, won the Overall Intermediate Award, Trumpeter Samuel Creecy, of The Bishop’s Stortford High School, was runner up.

The Overall Senior Award was won by cellist Kohana Fish, from Hockerill College, with clarinettist Fred Blackshaw as runner up.

Kohana Fish was the worthy winner of The Young Musician of the Year Award, with Milo Nuñez Li as Runner Up, an indication of his talent, as he is still a Junior. Alexander Smith won Young Vocalist of the Year, with Emily Harrison (who had won the Senior Vocal Winner) as runner up. Kohana and Alexander will go forward in the spring of 2025 to the Rotary District 1240 Final of the competition, with the possibility of going on to the Regional and National Finals.

It was a splendid day, with a very high standard of performance but also gave the younger entrants, at the beginning of their musical journey, a chance to gain confidence by performing and receiving a helpful critique of their performance. We shall be back again in 2025, on 26th April, at Bishop’s Stortford College. If you would like to take part, contact margaretwebb01@gmail.com.