The annual Cirencester Deer Park School Young Musician of the Year competition, hosted by our Music department, took place on Wednesday 25 April 2018. This event gives our pupils the opportunity to perform at a recital evening, whilst competing for the sought-after title of ‘Deer Park Young Musician of the Year 2018’. The competition is divided into two categories - Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 -  and we award an overall winner for each Key Stage, plus three commendable performers.

This year we had a wide variety of instrumentalists, including classical guitarists, pianists, flautists, violinists, drummers and a ukuleleist.

There was a really high level of both musical talent and hard work evident in all performances. For some of the performers, this was their first Young Musician competition; for some of the Year 11 pupils, this was their last competition. It is lovely to see the progression of pupils who started out playing in the Key Stage 3 competition and have performed regularly throughout their schooling and are now competing in Key Stage 4.

The programme was an eclectic mix. There were pieces of classical music, Brazilian-influenced guitar music, film themes, rock music, contemporary piano music and Celtic folk. The high level of variety kept the audience eagerly anticipating what they would hear next.

"What a fantastic evening! I always enjoy watching the pupils perform individual items that they have been working on. It was great to see pupils from all year groups performing with a variety of instruments." Head of Expressive Arts, Miss Mulcahy

At the end of a very enjoyable, diverse and entertaining set of performances, the judges left to make their difficult decisions. To entertain the audience during this time, Miss Garry, our trainee music teacher, organised for some of our Junior Singers and the Ukulele Group to perform, and this was an excellent addition to the evening.

Each performer was awarded with an engraved shield to commend them on their dedication in practising and preparing for the evening.

I would like to thank my fellow Judges Ms Henson, Miss Charlesworth and Miss Faux for their time and taking on the responsibility of making the difficult decisions as to the awards. I would also like to thank our team of peripatetic teachers who work hard with our pupils’, week in week out, to prepare them for exams and performances or just to improve their instrumental skills. Finally, I would like to thank all the parents who came the support this event and for their positive feedback.

Dan Cook, Music Teacher

We are looking forward to our Young Singer of the Year competition this Wednesday, 2 May 2018 and are sure we will have another exciting evening of performances from our talented Deer Park pupils.