ROTARY YOUNG MUSICIAN 2010

District 1240 in Chelmsford Cathedral

20.02.10

This is the fifth time the District Final has come to the Cathedral, and the standard continues to be remarkably high.

The seven contestants gave us – and the judges – a varied programme, making the inevitable decision all the more difficult.

I was impressed with 14-year-old Leonid Plashinov-Johnson, who played the last movement of the Bruch Violin Concerto, from memory, with his mother at the piano. And with Sasha Millwood, who won the Chelmsford Area competition last month with Beethoven and Butler. Flautist Carina Gascoine, runner-up on the night, gave a very musical account of Louis Ganne's sunny Andante and Scherzo.

But it was the violinist from the southeast of the district who won, with her well-chosen programme of Gershwin – the jazzy Heifetz arrangement of It Ain't Necessarily So – followed by the ever-popular salon showpiece, Monti's Czardas.

Now Sophie-Anne Chaplin will go on to the regional competition in Watford, and, who knows, maybe to the national final in Brentwood Cathedral.

photo: Rotary District Governor John Banks with winner for 2010 Sophie-Anne Chapman 2nd placed Carina Gascoine and 3rd Placed Leonid Plashinov-Johnson.