Rotary Young Musician

Last Tuesday saw the Annual Rotary Young Musician of the Year take place at Ashby School. This is run by the three Rotary Clubs in the town.

It gave the opportunities for young musicians from the ages 6 to 18 the chance to showcase their love of music both instrumental and vocal. The music ranged from Chopin to Lady Gaga. 

The compare for the evening was Margaret Hawksworth and the expert judges were  Bruce Parry and Tom Stanyard who had a difficult task to decide who would move forward to the District Competitions and overall winners of the night's events.

John Sedgley the organiser said" we have a wealth of young talent in the area, and we are especially privileged this year to have the Mayor Damilola Ojuri join us, who is championing young people’s causes this year" 

Winners in categories were, in the junior section Theo Jenkins, piano and India Bowman, harp. Intermediate winners were Contance Iselin, Clarinet, and Nicholas Lunn, French Horn. In the senior section Suzanne Iselin, Saxophone and Grace Abbott vocal. All will progress to the District final in Uppingham.

Past Rotary President David Barradell praised all the entrants and thanked the parents and teachers for their support and announced the two final awards. 

The Fred Williams Award was presented by Fran Williams the widow of Fred to a young person who, decided by the judges, demonstrates good sensitivity and interpretation of a piece. This year the winner was Theo Jenkins who performed on both the violin and piano.

David also announced the overall winner of Ashby Young Musician of the year as Suzanne Iselin who gave a wonderful performance 

This competition is part of a series of competitions Rotary run for young people and these include Young Artist, Young photographer and Young Writer. if you are interested in any of these please contact us at secretary.rotaryashbycastle@gmail.com for further details.