A schoolgirl pianist has been named as Swindon's Young Musician of the Year after fighting off tough competition.
Elizabeth Pope, who is a pupil at St John's School in Marlborough, has walked away as champion in the Swindon North and Thamesdown Rotary Club's Young Musician of the Year competition.
The competition is in its 25th year and 24 talented young entrants took to the stage to give their very best performance in front of a daunting panel of dignitaries and professionals at Blunsdon House Hotel on Sunday, March 24.
It was a close competition and young pianist Elizabeth took the prize just narrowly ahead of singer Bonnie Laker, from Lydiard Park Academy, who was also commended for her talent.
Elizabeth blew away the judges with her rendition of 'Nocturne in G Minor' by Chopin, performing in a mature manner despite her young age.
But although she may have won the title of Young Musician of the Year and taken first prize in the junior section, Bonnie Laker also wowed the judges and took first prize in the senior section with her vocal performance of 'When I Look at You' by Frank Wildham.
Runners up included Isabel Bartlett and Shreyas Fernandes in the junior section and Charlie Wright and Nora Serhan in the senior section.
The impossible task of adjudicating all of the talented youngsters fell to Paul Turner who has a whole host of musical achievements to his name including ARAM, GRSM (hons), LRAM, ARCM, FISM.
Paul, who lives locally, is a widely renowned professional musician having given masterclasses at such places as the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the Musicfest Aberystwyth to name just two.
He gave friendly and constructive advice to each competitor before announcing the final results.
“We’ve had a wonderful concert this afternoon, everybody has played and sung so well. My congratulations to their school teachers as well, they work so hard," he said.
Mayor of Swindon, Councillor Barbara Parry, who also attended the competition and presented trophies to both Elizabeth and Bonnie, added: “I love children being given opportunities such as this to showcase their talents and I congratulate them all as it takes a lot of courage to perform in front of an audience.”
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