Eight of Ipswich School’s solo musicians took centre stage last week as they performed in the grand final of the Young Musician of the Year competition. Over 150 students took part in the competition overall, in heats for beginners, intermediate and advanced performers, over 5 nights of heats.

From the advanced competition, the following students were selected to perform in the final: Nandi B – drums, Charlie D – alto saxophone, Colin C – violin, Lucas N – piano, Niamh W – trumpet, Alfred H – clarinet, Asmee M – violin and Elise L – singing. During the evening, the Senior Trio and Middle School Quartet also performed for the audience, playing the pieces which had seen them reach the national finals of the Pro Corda Chamber Music competition.

Judging the final was the professional adjudicator, Alison Moncrieff Kelly, whose insightful and positive feedback was both inspiring and helpful. She said to the audience: “I can see there is a most amazing music department here that is obvious from tonight. I loved every performance this evening – there were things in all of them that grabbed me.” She explained that there were three things she was looking for: technical command, communication of a musical message and a sense of performance, and after speaking about each finalist in turn, went on to award the 2023 title to Elise.

Mrs Steensma, Director of Music, said: “All the performances were amazing, and showed just how talented our students are. The dedication and expertise of our music students was so apparent and the audience were treated to a wonderful evening of music. Congratulations to everyone who took part in the competition,especially those who played in the final, and of course to Elise for being named as Young Musician of the Year 2023.”