Past Youth Competitions

YOUNG MUSICIAN & SINGER 2019

Thursday 7th February saw 13 pupils from Castle Douglas and Dalry High schools competing in the Rotary Young Musician and Singer of the Year 2019.

Following some excellent performances by the entrants, the judge named Kyle Duffy as Musician of the Year for his performance on the drums. Cameron Smith was names Young Singer of the Year for his redition of "Better Off the Way I Am". Finally, Kyle Duffy was awarded the Murray Trophy for the best overall performance.

YOUNG MUSICIAN COMPETITION 2018:

Castle Douglas Rotary Club hosted the local round of the Young Musician of the Year 2018 at Castle Douglas High School on the 8th February.  There was an excellent turnout of 13 pupils from both Castle Douglas and Dalry High Schools competing for the prize of Young Musician and Young Singer of the Year.

First prize in the Musician category went to Marnie Clark who gave an excellent performance of Grieg's "Notturno" on the piano.  Second prize went to Alex McMenemy, who performed  "Clowns" by Kabalevsky also on the piano. Joint third were Huw Hodson and Zoe Burgoyne.  James Robertson, President of Castle Douglas Rotary Club, presented the awards to the prize winners.

In the Young Singer Competition, James Wallace was awarded first prize for his superb rendition of the traditional scottish song "Will Ye No Come Back Again".  Ya'el Du Toit-Burns came second with her performance of "You are the Reason" by Calum Scott and Tyler Gilmour was awarded third prize  with his rendition of "Second Hand White Baby Grand" by Marc Shaiman.

Finally, the judges decided that overall winner of the Young Musician of the Year should go to James Wallace.

The picture below shows James Wallace receiving the "Young Musician of the Year" trophy from Kenny Murray of the Rotary Club of Castle Douglas along with the other award winners.

Kids Day Out 2017

YOUNG MUSICIAN COMPETITION 2014:

The Rotary club of Castle Douglas is committed to serving the local comminity and  in partnership with the High School of Castle Douglas hosted the annual Young Musician and Young Singer of the year competition on Thursday 6th February 2014.  A total of 10 young people participated in the competition with a super selection of musical pieces.  Instruments played included the guitar, drums and piano and the songs sung ranged from recent chart toppers to hits from top musicals.

Rotary club President  John Martin welcomed a  good turnout of parents and Rotarians who were  joined by guest of honour Mrs Eleanor Murray who was in attendance to present the Mr Billy Murray memorial prize for the overall competition winner.

The young people taking part enjoyed the opportunity to perform in front of an audience. All of the performances were of a high standard which  reflects the energy and commitment of  Depute Head Teacher Miss Alison Guthrie and her team of teachers who give considerable support and encouragement to the young people.

It was very clear that the judges Christine Barbour  and David Bayne had no easy task in selecting the overall winner and so it was most opportune that the senior school pupils were on hand to serve refreshments and so allowing the judges ample time before reaching  a decision. 

Before the result was announced Christine took time to provide each young person detailed  feedback on their performance and helpful hints for them to take on board in future competitions. The time taken to do this by Christine reflected her respect for the participants and indeed the high esteem in which Christine is held within the music profession.

President John Martin thanked the judges, school staff and most importantly the youmg people for providing such an enjoyable evening and  it was announced that the overall winner was Chaira McMorran from S4 who  sang "I Dreamed A Dream".

Clearly there can only be one winner but the evening highlighted the talent amongst our young people and for that reason the participants were all winners in their own right.

Chaira as the the overall winner will now go forward to take part in the next round of the Rotary competition and compete against young people from other parts of Dumfries and Galloway.