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A superb Singing Competition Final
It may have been the warmest day of 2024 thus far, but one could say the same of the feeling amongst the audience and between the competitors who reached Friday’s Singing Competition Final. From Folk songs to Musical Theatre, Baroque Opera to ‘Bluesy’ songs from the 1950’s and the present day: ‘Arias’ in Italian, ‘Chansons’ in French, ‘Lieds’ in German, tracts of Latin and, of course, Songs in English; there was plenty variety in this programme and each of the contestants delivered wonderfully honest, personal performances which captured the hearts and minds of the audience.
These young singers really did have the super-power of pulling at our emotions and communicating a narrative, where they all excelled. Overall, the evening was a testament to the power of Music to inspire, uplift, and unite. Ms Taylor Wilson (a recitalist and Opera singer, who teaches at Napier University and is much in demand, across the globe, as a performer) had the duty of adjudicating and elected Grace D as ‘Highly Commended’ for a committed ‘Jeunes Fillettes’ and ‘Cry me a river’ and Archie B as winner in the Intermediate Class for his solemn delivery of Purcell and earnest interpretation of Brahms’ ‘Dein blaues Auge’. In the Senior Class, Ava E W was Highly Commended for her sensitive rendition of ‘Amazing Grace’ and ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ and Thomas E, for his technical and totally complete and gripping performance of Quilter’s ‘Blow, blow, thou Winter Wind’ and Jason Robert Brown’s ‘She Cries’, was winner.
Our grateful thanks go to the hugely supportive audience of students, parents, and staff, to Catering for the supplying of refreshments, Mr Tully and Mr Dundas for providing piano accompaniment and, not least, to the singers who made it all such a superb evening.