WINNERS of the North Ayrshire Young Singer and Musician of the Year Awards 2022 have been announced.

Hosted virtually on Wednesday, March 30 and performed as a closed event due to Covid-19 restrictions, leading musical talent from North Ayrshire’s secondary schools came together at Garnock campus.

Competing for the titles of North Ayrshire Young Singer of the Year and North Ayrshire Young Instrumentalist of the Year, winners from heats held across the schools gathered to compete for the coveted top spots.

Mr Matthew Chinn, Associate Head of the Junior Conservatoire (Music) at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS), acted as adjudicator on the night and Chris Baxter from the RCS was the official accompanist.

Pianist Thomas Chan, of Greenwood Academy, was named Young Instrumentalist of the Year for his memorable renditions of Rachmaninoff Prelude in G minor Opus 23 No.5 and Ravel sonatina 3rd mvt.

Runners-up were saxophonist Michael Donnelly, from St Matthew’s Academy, and violist Gordon McLaren, from Kilwinning Academy.

Winner of Young Singer of the Year was Anna Muir, of Ardrossan Academy, who sang I Dreamed a Dream from Les Misérables and Nina by Giovanni Pergolesi.

Beth Prentice, from Greenwood Academy, and Lily Ewing, from Largs Academy, took the runner-up places.

Mr Chinn said: “I must say congratulations to all of the finalists on their fantastic performances.

“The confidence all the performers displayed despite the challenges of having very few live performance opportunities over the past two years has been an inspiration to us all.”

Thomas Chan was awarded the overall Young Solo Performer of the Year for North Ayrshire and will now represent North Ayrshire at the Scottish Young Musician competition on Sunday, May 29 in the RCS, Glasgow.

Musicians from across Scotland will compete for the title.