Who will be Northern Ireland’s Young Musician of the Year 2012?

The competition is open to instrumentalists aged over 11 and under 18 on 1/7/13, and singers aged over 11 and under 19 on 1/7/13.

Entry forms and rules have been sent via Education Board Music Directors to all post-primary schools in their Board areas and to Schools of Music. They can also be downloaded from www.comberrotary.org/documents/EntryForm2013.pdf. Applications should be received by the organisers by 31 January 2013. Those performers judged to be best by the heat adjudicator on March 2 will progress to the final in the Harty Room at Queen’s University, Belfast, on March 9.

The competition, now in its 21st year, attracts young vocalists and instrumentalists across a wide range of disciplines and talents, including among the winners flautists, pianists, percussionists, singers, violinists, cellists, a guitarist and a euphonium player. Many consider the Northern Ireland Young Musician of the Year to be the first major step on the road to a professional music career.

A by-product of the competition is that its organisers, the Rotary Club of Comber, have raised almost £100,000 for local charities – in particular the Northern Ireland Music Therapy Trust and the Northern Ireland Cancer Fund for Children.