Saturday 23rd September 2017
Iain Clark (piano), Finlay Murchie (sax), Olivia Barker (singing), Mungo Paul (guitar) and Lucy Walsh (flute), have an exciting and varied programme of Music for you to enjoy.
Olivia
is 20 years old and is going into third year at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh studying for a MA (Hons) in Accountancy and Finance. She Joined the Arran Junior Singers Choir at the young age of seven, where she found her love for singing. Olivia performed regularly at school assembly’s, charity events and music festival’s throughout the Island. Near the end of Olivia’s schooling, she joined the National Youth Choir of Scotland, performing with Nicola Benedetti, singing for the Scottish Parliament and participated in other performances throughout Scotland. Last year Olivia was awarded a music scholarship through university for her singing which entitles her to have professional opera training. Currently she represents her university in four choirs which perform many genres of music in a variety of venues, such as Rosslyn chapel, St Giles Cathederal and Greyfrairs Kirk. This summer Olivia completed a week’s music residential course which took place in Ardtornish Estate which concluded with a concert at Iona Abbey and St Giles Cathedral. Olivia has been given the opportunity to perform the solo in Voyagers’ Chorus from the opera Idomeneo by W. A. Mozart with the Heriot Watt University Choir in November for a ‘Night at the Opera’ performance which is a very exciting opportunity.
Finlay
is 20 years old and is about to begin his third year of BSc Biochemistry at The University of Edinburgh. He began playing piano age 9 after getting a keyboard one Christmas and gained a keen interest in music, also starting the saxophone shortly after, where he achieved up to grade 8 piano and grade 7 saxophone in his final years of high school. He has participated in many competitions and extra-curricular activities involving music such as performing with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and North Ayrshire schools concert band and was a regular face at the Music festival on the island for both instruments and poetry. Finlay also enjoys dramatics. He has competed in many Burns poetry competitions where he was able to attain first place at the World Burns Federation competition in poetry for the S3/4 category. This resulted in an invite to the Consular Corps burns supper at the Scottish parliament in Holyrood where he addressed the haggis. He also performed in many plays at the Drama Festival on the island receiving multiple awards for his performances.
Iain
is 20 years old and starting 3rd year on the Bachelor of Music (Hons) course in Piano Performance at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He studies piano with Jonathan Plowright and Saxophone and Clarinet with Josef Pacewicz. In June 2014 he gained his Associate Diploma from Trinity College London in piano with distinction and also has Grade 8 saxophone and clarinet with Distinction. Iain has won first prize in the Moray Piano Competition in Elgin, the Junior Royal Conservatoire Beethoven and Gilbert Innes prizes for piano in 2 consecutive years, and the JRCS concerto competition, enabling him to perform Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with their Symphony Orchestra. Throughout last March he gained many prizes at the Glasgow Music Festival, including first place in the Piano Premier Class. In 2015 Iain was awarded first prize in the National final of the Rotary Young Musician on piano against instrumentalists from all over Britain and Ireland and also reached the second stage of BBC Young Musician of the Year. More recently he was awarded a commended in the Peter Lindsay Miller prize for piano duo in RCS, and reached the final of the Edinburgh Concerto Competition at which he performed Prokofiev’s 3rd Piano Concerto with orchestra. In August last year he passed pre-selection for the International Piano Competition for Young Musicians, progressing to the semi-final in Enschede, The Netherlands. As well as solo, Iain also enjoys a busy chamber career, regularly performing with a piano quintet, saxophone quartet, and instrumental duos. He was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland on clarinet for 2017, and also enjoyed many long years on Arran playing with the pipe band.