Pictured above: Phil Coulter who will be Master of Ceremonies at the 2019 Top Security Frank Maher Classical Music Awards, with Sarah Ambrose, St Raphaela’s Secondary School, Stillorgan, and Rachel Lynch, Loreto College, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin.

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***Top Security/ Frank Maher Classical Music Awards 2019***
Deadline for submissions: Friday 13 September
Competition night: Friday 4 October

Top teen music talent is now sought for the €5,000 top prize at the Top Security/Frank Maher Classical Music Awards for 2019, Ireland’s largest classical music competition for secondary schools. This year, the Awards will have world-renowned musician and songwriter Phil Coulter as Master of Ceremonies for the competition evening in October.   

The Top Security Frank Maher Classical Music Awards were created in 2001 by Emmet O’Rafferty, chairman of the Top Security Group, to showcase outstanding young talent in classical music. Past winners have received national and international recognition for their achievements and used their prize money as a springboard towards a professional career by funding their studies at some of the world’s most renowned music colleges and institutions, including the Juilliard School, Barenboim-Said Akademie, Royal College of Music, Conservatoire Nationale Superieur de Musique et de Danse, Kronberg Academy and the Meadows School of the Arts to name a few. 

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 finalists will each receive a €300 bursary. 

The closing date for this year’s entries is Friday 13th September 2019. A maximum of seven finalists will be selected by an independent board of adjudicators to attend the competition night on Friday 4th October 2019 at the Royal College of Physicians in Dublin to perform in front of an invited audience. 

Full details, including rules and a copy of the application form for downloading, are available at www.frankmaherclassicalmusicawards.com.