Trim student is youngest finalist in classical music awards
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Aidan Keane, a sixth year student at Boyne Community School was a finalist at the 2024 Top Security Frank Maher Classical Music Awards for secondary schools.Image 2 of 3
Aidan Keane, a sixth year student at Boyne Community School was a finalist at the 2024 Top Security Frank Maher Classical Music Awards for secondary schools at which Marty Whelan of Lyric FM was the master of ceremonies. Photo: Peter HoulihanImage 3 of 3
Julieanne Forrest, a former student of St Peter’s College in Dunboyne and the 2020 winner, now studying at MUK Vienna, performed a guest duet at the 2024 Top Security Frank Maher Classical Music Awards for secondary schools, with the 2022 winner Daimee Ng, accompanied by pianist David Vesey. Photo: Peter HoulihanPianist Aidan Keane, a sixth-year student at Boyne Community College, was a finalist at the 2024 Top Security Frank Maher Classical Music Awards, Ireland’s largest such competition for secondary schools.
Lyric FM presenter Marty Whelan was master of ceremonies for an evening of outstanding teen musical talent at which the 17 year-old performed two pieces, ‘Prelude from English Suite No 2, BWV 807’ by Johann Sebastian Bach and ‘Hungarian Rhapsody No 4 in EB Major, S.244/4’ by Franz Liszt.
The winner of the €5,000 top prize was pianist Ai Lin Sun (17) a sixth-year student at the Institute of Education in Dublin. The Awards were created in 2001 by Top Security chairman Emmet O’Rafferty to honour the memory of his late teacher, Fr Frank Maher, who taught music at Castleknock College in Dublin.
Aidan Keane was presented with a €300 bursary as were the other finalists, Oscar Casey (18), Douglas Community School, Douglas, Cork (Cello); Meadhbh Ní Chathasaigh (18), Gaelcoláiste Choilm, Ballincollig, Co. Cork (Violin); Amhlaoibh Ó Siocháin Ó Beoláin (18), Coláiste an Phiarsaigh, Glanmire, Co Cork (Piano); Chloe O’Connor (18), Muckross Park College, Donnybrook, Dublin (Violin).
“On behalf of Top Security, congratulations to this year’s winner, Ai Lin Sun Aidan and all our equally talented finalists for their excellent performances on the night,Emmet said.
"Fr Frank Maher’s passion for classical music inspired many students and it’s a privilege to support these talented young musicians as they embark on their professional journeys.
“This competition not only recognises their hard work and dedication but also helps them pursue opportunities that can shape their musical futures. We wish them all the very best wherever their talent takes them.”
The Awards’ aim is to showcase exceptional young musical talent in Irish schools and are open to sixth year post-primary students of strings, woodwind, brass and piano. The €5,000 top prize must be used 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 2023 winner, pianist Joe O’Grady from Dublin, is now studying music as part of his Bachelor degree at Harvard University in Massachusetts. Other winners have used the prize to further their studies at prestigious institutions.
The competition’s 2020 winner Julieanne Forrest, a former student of St Peter’s College in Dunboyne, now studying at MUK Vienna, performed a guest duet with the 2022 winner Daimee Ng, accompanied by pianist David Vesey.
Dr Gerard Gillen, chair of the judging panel, said “Ai Lin Sun made a compelling impression with her combination of outstanding technical skill and rich range of emotional expression that made for performances that were rich in colour, excitement, and imaginative insight. She is clearly a performer whose future will be followed with the keenest interest.”
The judging panel was Dr Gerard Gillen, emeritus professor of music at NUI Maynooth, international classical pianist Veronica McSwiney and international violist Wolfgang Klos, professor of viola at the University of Music and the Performing Arts, Vienna.