Churchill Music Young Musician of the Year competition

Published: 15 February 2023

The atmosphere was electric in the packed St. John’s church for our Churchill Music Young Musician of the Year competition. Advanced music students at Churchill Academy present an eight-minute programme of contrasting works to demonstrate their musicality, technical ability and presentation skills in the beautiful setting of St. John’s church Churchill. In addition to the generous cash prizes and trophies, winners have the opportunity to perform in the Young Artist’s Showcase in St. George’s Bristol on Tuesday 21st February and in the District Final of the Rotary Young Musician of the Year held at Kings of Wessex School, Cheddar on Sunday 19th March.

Simon Smith FRSA, international violinist and Coordinator of String Studies at Wells Cathedral School chaired this year’s adjudication panel. He was joined by Adrian Trapp MA Cantab, former Director of Music at Weston Parish Church and professional french horn player, Holly Greenwood-Rogers,BA (Dunelm) MMus (RBC) a former winner of both Junior and Senior Young Musician Awards when she was at Churchill Academy. The musicality and technical ability of the students was exciting. During the nail-biting interval the packed audience and invited guests which included Churchill Parish Council chair, Jackie Bush and Cllr Catherine Gibbons Executive member of North Somerset Council for Children and life-long learning, voted for the young musician who they felt should win the special Churchill Music Audience trophy and were entertained by Churchill Academy’s Chamber Choir.

The Raymond Hayter Song prize – a financial award which is not part of the competition is made in memory of Raymond Hayter and Beryl Roper. It is generously supported each year in their memory by Beryl’s nephew Matthew Jones. The prize is awarded to the young vocal student who has the most promising voice and works hard to contribute to the musical life of Churchill Academy. This year it was awarded to Gemma Partridge (year 12) who gave a lovely performance in the interval.

Musicians! Congratulations to you all. We hope that you enjoyed performing to us as much as we enjoyed listening to you. Your presentations were excellent – the judges had very hard choices to make.

Winners 2023

Churchill Music Young Musician of the Year : Tom Donovan (Year 13) – guitar.
Ursula Dornton Vocal Prize sponsored by the Trinity Singers : Matt Lucas (Year 12)
Churchill Music Junior Trophy : Adam Corke (Year 11) – tuba.
Churchill Music Audience Trophy : Toby Wilson (Year 11) – violin.

Runners up

Lucas Granger (Year 10) – guitar
Wilfred Maitland-Round (Year 10) – cornet
Felicity Dickson-Boardman (Year 11) voice
Ailis Phillips (Year 12) – cornet
Churchill Music awarded tokens to all runners up.