The 2011 Forest of Dean Young Musician of the Year competition recently took place, where ten highly talented young musicians aged 13 – 21 battled it out in the sweltering heat to try and win the coveted title of Forest of Dean Young Musician of the Year.

Gala performance

The victor also enjoyed the opportunity to perform their prize-winning programme to a capacity audience at that evening’s ‘Made in the Forest’ Gala Concert held at the Forest Theatre, Berry Hill.

Competitors were grouped into two categories according to age and performing standard; Junior Young Musicians aged 10 – 15, and Senior Young Musicians aged 15 -21.

Contrasting programmes

The entrants were required to perform a contrasting programme of music of between 6 and 10 minutes duration and were judged against a well-defined and demanding set of criteria which included adherence to the score, rhythmic accuracy/clarity and artistic expression/musicality.

Senior winner

In what turned out to be a high quality Senior Young Musician competition, the eventual winner was trumpeter Sam Davis, who also plays solo cornet for Lydbrook Band, with his programme of ‘Slavische Fantasie’ by Carl Hohne and ‘Trumpeter’s Lullaby’ by Leroy Anderson.

The runner-up was euphonium player Otis Williams, who performed ‘Variants on an English Theme’ by Philip Sparke and ‘Peace’ by John Golland.

In what turned out to be a high quality Senior Young Musician competition, the eventual winner was trumpeter Sam Davis, who also plays solo cornet for Lydbrook Band4BR

Junior title

Meanwhile, the Junior Young Musician winner was 14 year old tuba player George Stratford, from Forest of Dean Brass, who played ‘The Holy City’ by Stephen Adams and ‘The Ploughboy’ by Edrich Seibert.

The runner-up was saxophonist Rowan Andrews who played ‘Kebab Keboogie’ by James Rae, ‘Rise’ by Bob Dylan and ‘In the Midnight Hour’ by Wilson Pickett.

A Certificate of Merit for the Most Promising Player was awarded to 15 year old Matthew Brew who performed the ‘Clarinet Concerto’ by Tartini in the Senior Young Musician category.

The adjudicator was Miss Sarah Waycott, BA(Hons), Music PGDip RWCMD, DipABRSM, a professionally trained classical flautist, whose insightful and informative adjudications proved to be of great benefit to all the young musicians.