***Top Security/ Frank Maher Classical Music Awards 2023***

Top Teen Talent Sought for €5,000 Classical Music Prize

Deadline for submissions: Friday 6 October 2023, 5pm
Competition: Friday 27 October 2023

Eimear Noone, the award-winning Galway composer and conductor, has lent her support to the 2023 Top Security/Frank Maher Classical Music Awards for talented teens. With a €5,000 prize for the winner, it is Ireland’s largest classic music competition for secondary schools.

To launch the call for entries for this year’s competition, the Oscars conductor met with the 2022 winner, violinist Daimee Ng from Dublin, and two Ballinasloe secondary school students, Ola Wdowiak from Ard Scoil Mhuire on clarinet and Mikolaij Zicbo from St. Joseph’s College on saxophone, both members of the Ballinasloe Town Band.

Commenting on the awards, Eimear Noone said:

Support for young artists and creative professionals is something we need more of in Ireland. Congratulations to the team behind the Frank Maher Awards for making a positive impact on young musicians both professionally and psychologically.

Last year’s winner, 18-year-old Daimee Ng from The High School in Dublin, achieved top honours in her Leaving Cert and has decided to forgo her university offers to pursue a career in music. Daimee commented:

It was wonderful to meet and play for Eimear Noone, she was incredibly supportive and gave me a lot of advice and encouragement.  I’m now taking a gap year to attend masterclasses and explore the opportunities that the wider musical world has to offer before I audition for several renowned music colleges in Europe to start the next stage of my musical journey.

The Top Security/Frank Maher Classical Music Awards were created in 2001 by Emmet O’Rafferty, chairman of the Top Security Group, to honour the memory of his late teacher, Fr Frank Maher, a pioneer in the nurturing of musical talent in secondary schools. The Awards went nationwide in 2012.

Emmet added:

The Awards are now in its twelfth year of national competition, and we’re continually delighted at the calibre of teenage talent that it attracts, with many of our winners going on to make careers in this field.  Thank you to Eimear Noone for lending her wonderful support to the launch of this year’s search for entries and we’re very much looking forward to meeting this year’s talented finalists.

The Award entrants are a roll-call of rising young Irish classical music talent. Past winners include pianists Kevin Jansson and Aidan Chan, violinists Julieanne Forrest and Mairead Hickey and cellists Killian White and Sinead O’Halloran.

All the winners have received national and international recognition for their achievements, and many have used their prize money as a springboard to fund their studies at some of the world’s most renowned music colleges and institutions. These include Juilliard School, MUK Vienna, Barenboim-Said Akademie, Royal College of Music, Conservatoire Nationale Superieur de Musique et de Danse and Kronberg Academy.

The Awards are open to sixth year post-primary students of string, woodwind, brass and piano. The €5,000 top prize will be used by the winner to attend a recognised place of tuition, a course of study in Ireland or abroad or on a purchase necessary for the development of their talent. The remaining finalists will each receive a €300 bursary.

The closing date for this year’s entries is Friday 6th October 2023. Further information, rules and a copy of the application form for downloading on www.frankmaherclassicalmusicawards.com.

This listing is part of a Journal of Music promotional campaign. For further information, see here.