Music Service Students Invited to Audition for Major Concert

Congratulations to four of our music service students, Donegal Music Education Partnership, including the service manager (and well-known traditional musician) Martin McGinley, who have been invited to audition for a major classical music concert after earning distinctions in their examinations with the Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM). They’ve been asked to send video recordings of pieces to RIAM to help senior examiners choose performers for the High Achievers regional concert in Sligo next month.

All four have been given the prestigious High Achiever Award by the RIAM. They are Paul Gillespie (cello), Ezgi Ozbay (piano), Shaun Fletcher (piano) and Martin McGinley (violin). The RIAM awards came at a range of examination grades – Shaun Fletcher at piano Grade 8 (the highest of the numbered grades); Ezgi Ozbay at piano Grade 2; Paul Gillespie at cello Grade 5; and Martin McGinley at violin Grade 6.

About 42,000 music students do the RIAM examinations each year and of those about 450 get the High Achiever award. The RIAM High Achievers concert for Connacht-Ulster will take place on Sunday, 26 November at the Hawk’s Well Theatre, Sligo.