The southern semi-final of the Rotary District 1070 Young Musician Competition took place at Moulton School on Sunday 8th March.  Some 200 young people from Northamptonshire, Huntingdonshire and Cambridgeshire took part and the competition for places in the final was fierce.

The Junior section was particularly large and the standard displayed by the 6 to 10 year olds was remarkable.  St Anne’s school from Huntingdon virtually swept the board with entrants in solo, ensemble and choir categories winning through to the final. Unfortunately this meant that none of our sponsored juniors were successful this time.  It was a pity that the wonderfully named “Girls With Attitude” decided not to perform their own song as they had in the preliminary round, since this would have highlighted their talents much more than a rather disappointing rendition of Duffy’s “Mercy”. 

In the Intermediate section, Amelia Bell was actually the first performer of the day.  This is quite a daunting experience but she chose to sing solo from the stage (rather than from the floor, as all other performers did) and this highlighted her confidence and earned her a place in the final.  Zoe Lumsden, playing the bassoon, was less successful but was selected by the press photographer for a series of photos!

The senior competition was disappointingly small this year, but what it lacked in numbers was undoubtedly made up in quality.  The solo violinist is a star in the making and there was a general feeling that the adjudicator was “wrong” in his award of a final place to Riverside Singers rather than Hinchingbrooke Chamber Choir in the choir section.  However, what do we amateur music appreciators know?  The adjudicator is always right!

My thanks to all the helpers on the day, to Chris Watts of the Rotary Club of Brackley for providing refreshments and to Andrew Cowling for his excellent Master of Ceremonies performance.  I will give him the credit for ensuring that the programme ran perfectly to time, although my peers on the District Young Musician Committee thought my planned timings were optimistic!

The final takes place at Melton Mowbray Theatre on Sunday 3rd May and, as always, it will provide a day of fantastic music and the most wonderful value for the very modest admission price.  A bonus this year is that there is to be a National final in Chelmsford Cathedral for the overall individual winners and runners up in both the vocal and instrumental events.

Rtn. Brian May