Young Musician Competition

On Thursday 17^th February, the annual Young Musicians competition took place in the magnificent concert hall of the new Cowbridge Comprehensive School building. There were 6 competitors drawn from both Llantwit Major and Cowbridge schools who treated the audience to a wonderful display of talent and musicianship. The Rotary rules required that competitors should play at least two contrasting pieces on non-amplified instruments. Flautist Alison Jones played Sunstreams by Ian Clarke and the First Movement of Bach's Sonata Number 6. Hannah Clist, who played the cello, played the Fourth Movement of Franck's Sonata. There were two pianists in the competition, Rosanna Forte and Jade O'Leary. Rosanna played the Sonata in D minor by Cimarosa and Nocturne in C# minor by Chopin. Jade played Bach's Prelude and Fugue No. 12 in F minor followed by Fats Waller's Alligator Crawl.

Katie Wynne and Hannah Ballinger both played the clarinet, and as the judges could not separate them in terms of their talent and musicality they were awarded joint second place. Katie played Mozart's Clarinet Concerto 1^st Movement and Malcolm Arnold's Sonatina 1^st Movement. Hannah played another piece by Mozart, namely the Clarinet Quintet 1^st Movement, then went on to perform the First Movement of Brahms' Clarinet Sonata in Eb Major. Although Rosanna Forte had previously played the piano in the competition, she showed her considerable talent and versatility by winning the competition first place on the violin playing Vaughan Williams' Pastoral and Hubay's Bolero.

The judges, Helena Braithwaite, Mary Noyes and Nic Treharne commented on the very high standard achieved by the competitors and wished Rosanna Forte well in the next stage of the competition.