Young Musician 2022

Young musicians aged from 12 to 18 years from across the South West gathered at Kings of Wessex Academy for the Rotary District 1200 Young Musician competition. Instrumentalists and singers gave individual performances in front of an audience which included adjudicators Barry Rose OBE and David Cheetham.

Taunton Rotary Club was delighted that three winning contestants were supported by the Club. These exceptional performers included Anthony Knight who is 15 years and attends Taunton School, achieved 1st place playing violin in the instrumental section, with Kyle Blake who16 years and attends The Blue School in Wells, achieving 2nd place for his performance on piano.Elisabeth Zmuda who is 17 years and attends Maynard School in Exeter, achieved 1st place in the Vocalist section and the runner up was Lily Caddick who is 15 years and attends Courtfields School in Wellington. All four will go forward to the regional final to be held in Truro next month.

Kyle, Elizabeth, Anthony and Lily went forward to the South and Southwest Regional Final on 15th May where Anthony Knight (Violin) secured second place in the instrumentalist category, Kyle Blake (piano) achieved third place and Elizabeth Zmuda achieved second place (soprano) in the 'Voice' category.

The District Event organisers Rotarians Alan Reeve and Roger Burdock reminded everyone that due to coronavirus last year’s competition had to be held ‘virtually’ with young people providing recordings of their music. They thanked those who had made the live event possible this year, in particular the head teacher and staff at Kings of Wessex for use of the facilities and for sponsoring the cash prizes, the adjudicators for their time and expertise, ‘Burns the Bread’ for provision of refreshments, and local Rotarians for assisting with stewarding.