Young Musician of the Year Awards

On Wednesday night, Sheldon's top musicians performed for a full house of family and friends during our annual Young Musician of the Year Awards Concert. At the end of last term, seventeen students were selected after a week of auditions to represent the Lower School (Years 7-9), Upper School (Years 10 & 11) and Sheldon Sixth Form in a wide variety of musical genres and instruments. 

Sheldon music teacher and organiser of the Young Musician of the Year Awards, Mrs Hall, opened the evening by saying that it was one of most talented groups of students she has seen in a number of years, making the selection of finalists difficult. “The calibre of the talent at Sheldon is incredible!”

To help determine winners for each age group category, we enlisted the help of guest adjudicator and former Sheldon student, Jacob Bryne. He enjoys a versatile career as a pianist and Head of Year 10 at Malmesbury School. He is an in-demand soloist, accompanist and orchestral performer that has performed in many prestigious venues across the country.

Byrne had the difficult task of selecting winners from diverse performances including original compositions, soul-pop and rock drumming, Chopin on both flute and piano, jazz standards and even a rendition of the Coconut Mall theme from Mario Kart!

“This is an incredibly, incredibly difficult job,” he admitted. “It really isn’t easy to stand in front of a large audience and perform. All of the musicians had a great sense of musicality, confidence and stagecraft. I am thoroughly impressed.”

Byrne explained that the winners he selected each contained a little something extra in their performances that helped set them apart from their peers. He took the time to provide feedback to all of the performers so that they can continue to excel in their musical careers.

Those awarded on the night were: Marylou in Y9 (Lower School Winner), Emily in Y7 (Lower School Runner-Up), Anayah in Y11 (Upper School Winner), Ethan in Y11 (Upper School Runner-Up), Ralph in Y13 (Sixth Form Winner) and George in Y12 (Sixth Form Runner-Up).

Marylou in Y9 performed an original composition called ‘Talk About Us’. She has been playing guitar and singing since she was young and is looking forward to beginning GCSE music next year. Byrne said he was blown away by Marylou. “The performance as so atmospheric and skilfully played. She has such promise as a composer and performer.”

The Upper School winner, Anayah, also sang and played guitar, performing ‘Safe and Sound’ by Joy Williams. “This was an enchanting performance that showed great range and confidence,” commented Byrne. Anayah is passionate about music and hopes to pursue it as a career in after studying A Level music.

A performer regularly found at Sheldon productions, both on and off stage, was crowned the Sixth Form winner at his last performance for the school. Ralph in Y13 performed Train Ride by Jasper Smith, a piece for guitar that Bryne commended for the demonstration of “technical skill and control, creating beautiful texture and effects.” Ralph has been a keen musician and performer since primary school and finds that music has been an outlet to support his mental health. Everyone at Sheldon will miss seeing Ralph at our concerts and look forward to hearing about his accomplishments in the future.

We’d like to thank all of our Sheldon students for sharing their wonderful performances. You should all be proud of your extraordinary talent and we look forward to hearing you all again in the future, whether in the Sheldon School Hall or even bigger stages!

Thank you to everyone who helped organise the Young Musician of the Year Awards, including all of our music faculty and peripatetic music teachers. The show is a labour of love for Mrs Hall and we are very grateful for all of the time and effort she puts into producing a concert that captures the breadth of the musical talent at Sheldon. We’d also like to thank Samuel Warner for his accompaniment on the evening. The show couldn’t go on without the expertise of our Music Tech students running the lights and sound, as well as the support of the Performing and Expressive Arts Department in managing the Front of House. Thank you to all of the family, friends and staff that turned out to support these young musicians.