Following a triumphant, sell-out Highland Young Musicians Concerts Festival at Eden Court on Saturday (22 March), some of the young musicians involved went straight into a completely different musical environment the following day at the 2025 Highland Young Musician of the Year competition.
Megan Campbell,15, from Portree High School, was awarded the coveted title of Highland Young Musician of the Year 2025 at yesterday’s (23 March) event at the Highland Archive Centre in Inverness.
Megan impressed the judges with her flute programme in which she performed ‘Sentimentale’ by Claude Bolling; ‘Petite Valse’ by Andre Caplet and Leonard Bernstein’s ‘Mambo’. She will now represent the Highland region in the Scottish Young Musician of the Year competition, which is being held in May at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow.
The competition’s two runners up were pianist Jack Bungey, 17, from Ardnamurchan High School and violinist Rebekah Bullivant, also 17, who is a student at UHI and member of the Highland Regional Youth Orchestra. Fellow competitors were Talitha Williamson (violin); Fiona Langley (voice) and Blythe Bullen (violin).
Speaking following the event, High Life Highland’s Head of Music Development, Norman Bolton said: “The entire weekend has been a real celebration of music and on Sunday we had the pleasure of hearing some of the best young musicians from across the Highlands. Without exception, they all played to an extremely high standard, so the judges had a difficult task.
“The quality of music we heard at the competition is only made possible through the absolute hard work and commitment first-and-foremostly by the pupils themselves. However, there’s also a lot of people around who support them on their journey from family and friends, private tutors or our very own High Life Highland music instructors across the whole Highland area.”
The judges for this year’s Highland Young Musician of the Year were Katie Rush, Project Manager, Live Music Now Scotland and Alexander Davidson, Principal Teacher of Music Instruction and Performance at Moray Council.
Katie commented: “We have had the pleasure of experiencing a range of top-quality performances this afternoon and it is clear that all performers have worked tirelessly, making the most of the teaching received and support given to music education from High Life Highland.”
Norman Bolton, Head of Music Development for High Life Highland concluded: “Very many congratulations to Megan. There could only be one winner but all the performers should be exceptionally proud of participating today, and for the high quality of their performances.”
