Farlington Student Wins Young Musician Competition

The Bellevue Young Musician Competition winner for 2024 has been announced and we are so proud to share the news that one of our Farlington Music Scholars, Xanthe, Year 9, has been named Overall Winner! 

The competition brought together young musicians from all of the schools in the Bellevue family and the standard was incredibly high across all categories. This incredible achievement is the culmination of months of practice and careful preparation from Xanthe and, of course, her music teachers.

Xanthe comes from a family of highly accomplished musicians, and started playing the piano herself at just five years old. She took up the piano as her primary instrument in order to gain a foundation in music, before adding a second instrument, the cello, at a later date. Xanthe now also plays the cello to a very high standard and performs regularly with the Telemann Strings, which is a thriving music group at Farlington. A seasoned performer, even at such a young age, Xanthe takes part in the annual Haywards Heath Music Society Young Musicians’ Showcase, performing on the piano.

To celebrate Xanthe’s amazing success in the Bellevue Young Musician Competition, she has been invited to perform her winning competition piece at the Bellevue Southern Music Festival, which is being held on Monday 11th March at Trinity School in Croydon. When asked about her wonderful achievement, Xanthe said, "I am so pleased to have won the Bellevue Young Musician Competition. I really wasn't expecting it, it was a lovely surprise! I am really looking forward to performing my entry piece, Debussy's Arabesque No. 1, at the Bellevue Southern Music Festival." 

Head of Music at Farlington, Miss Kirsty Nimmo, said of Xanthe’s success, “I am very proud of Xanthe's achievements in the Bellevue Young Musician Competition, she is a passionate musician with great attention to detail at the piano. Xanthe gives up a great deal of her time as a Scholar for the Music Department and I am so pleased that she has received this recognition for her endeavours. I always thoroughly enjoy watching Xanthe perform and I am so pleased that she will be sharing her performance with the audience at the Bellevue Southern Music Festival on 11th March.”

Congratulations to Xanthe, and to all of our talented finalists, Verdi from Year 10 and Evie from Year 7, who both also performed on the piano as part of the competition, and are such fantastic ambassadors for Farlington’s thriving Music Department. We can’t wait to see what you accomplish next!