Glasgow Decides Who Will Represent The City At Scottish Young Musicians Solo Performer Of The Year 2024

Today (Thursday 1 Feb) in City Halls, Glasgow, young musicians from across Glasgow took part in their local final for Scottish Young Musicians Solo Performer of the Year.

Scottish Young Musicians, Scotland's leading festival of music competitions, has returned for 2024 to give young people across the country the chance to compete for the titles of Solo Performer of the Year, Ensemble of the Year and Brass Ensemble of the Year. Participation in this career-enhancing competition has been offered to every Local Authority in the country as well as independent schools, in the hope that more young people than ever before will take up the opportunity to perform and take part.

Back to find its third ever champion, Solo Performer of the Year is open to all young musicians who go to school in Scotland, whatever age or standard. Each local authority will select a regional finalist, with all of them hosting local and regional heats across different schools to decide who will represent their area at the National Final, which will take place at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland on Sunday 26 May 2023.  

All schools in Glasgow were invited to take part in their local final and 46 schools sent children to compete.

S6 pupil Caleb Reid was awarded first place for his performance of Gordeli's Flute Concerto. The 17-year-old from Hillpark Secondary School also won last year's Glasgow final.

Runners up were 17-year-old pianist Teejay Watson, an S6 pupil at Castlemilk High School, and 11-year-old French Horn player Magnus Campbell, who is a P7 pupil Hillhead Primary School. Magnus also won Glasgow's primary competition.

Caleb Reid, Glasgow's finalist for Scottish Young Musicians Solo Performer of the Year, said: “I am proud and delighted to have won Glasgow's local final for Scottish Young Musicians for the second year running. Last year's National Final gave me an amazing opportunity to perform alongside Scotland's most talented young musicians, and I'm excited to return to the Royal Conservatoire stage to demonstrate how my musical skill has grown over the past year. The standard of everyone playing today was wonderful, it was a very tight competition with such a varied programme featuring an incredible range of instrumental talent. The future of music in Glasgow is in safe hands with all the young people involved today illuminating the city's musical future!”

This year's Glasgow final involved 69 competitors overall, a total of 27 musicians from across 20 primary schools, and 19 secondary vocal competitors and 23 secondary instrumentalists from across 26 high schools. The overall age range was from 7 (P3) to 17 (S6).

In only 2 years, Scottish Young Musicians has become the largest and most important national music competition in schools, with around 99% of the school population taking part in 2024. The competitions give young people a life-changing and unforgettable experience, as well as the confidence to continue to compete at the highest level and to do so across all socio-economic backgrounds, providing an opportunity which would otherwise not have existed.

The national winners of Solo Performer of the Year, the Open Ensemble competition and Brass Ensemble of the Year  will receive a stunning trophy designed and donated by Alexander Stoddart, the King's Sculptor in Ordinary in Scotland. The aluminium figure depicts the Maid of Morven, a figure from Ossianic poetry that has inspired composers throughout history. Finalists will also have a chance to win amazing career-changing prizes including cash to spend on developing music skills, a hand-crafted trophy, coaching, recording sessions, meet-and-greets with Scotland's top music institutions and more.

To post a comment, you must register and login.