Young Musician of Wales final

By Amy Willis, Cardiff Evening News – Hwyl Arts Supplement

The winner of this year’s Young Musician of Wales final, 17-year-old cellist Steffan Morris, from Neath, displayed the most passionate performance of the evening.

As he played his first piece, Alone by Giovanni Sollima, his almost had his eyes closed throughout the entirety of the performance, clearly trying to feel the music as he played. His fingers whizzed along the strings with faultless speed as his foot tapped the pace. At the end of the piece he opened his eyes and squinted up at the cheering crowd. The bemused rabbit-caught-in-the-headlights look on his face showed just how much he had become caught up in the moment.
He showed the same infatuation with his two other pieces, Nocturne for cello and piano in E flat major by Frederic Chopin, accompanied by Nigel Hutchinson on the piano, and the cello concerto, fourth movement by Edward Elgar, accompanied by the Cardiff Philharmonic Orchestra.

But it seemed a little unfair that the other two 17-year-olds in the competition, Anne Denholm on the harp and Steffan Ciccotti on the marimba, received second and third place trophies while 12-year-olds Ben Creighton-Griffiths and David Shaw left empty handed.

Ben Creighton-Griffiths, from Cardiff, played the Harp with such confidence it was difficult to understand how such a talent could be overlooked. The complexity of his hand movements was really advanced for someone so young- even the conductor of the Cardiff Philharmonic Orchestra was beaming with pride.

Yet he remained unplaced despite a fantastic performance. This showed a real flaw in the judging system.To save the spirit of the competition it should surely have been judged on a combination of musical potential and musical knowledge.

To save the spirit of the competition it should surely have been judged on a combination of musical potential and musical knowledge.

Sadly, it seems the judges only took musical knowledge into account. This questions whether it was fair to pit two 12-year-old musicians against three 17-year-olds who had a five year advantage in experience. In doing so, the competition could only ever lead to disappointment.

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