Wicklow’s talented youth shine at 65th Kilcoole Music Festival

An amazingly high standard was set by some very talented young pianists on Saturday morning in the piano solo under 10 competition, which was won by Oscar Liu from Athlone.

The standard set by Oscar continued right through the day from the under 10 piano solo category to the Under 18 piano solo competition, followed by classical guitar competitions of which the Under 19 Category was won by Cecilia Chiau from East Wall, Dublin and all of which was adjudicated by Colma Brioscú of the Royal Irish Academy of Music.

Sunday continued with a buzzing hall full of competing choirs with varied and wonderful repertoire in the Under 16 and Under 19 Choral Competitions with choirs from Dublin, Wicklow and Offaly, all adjudicated by Virginia Kerr.

The festival concluded with its most prestigious competition, the Tom Kilbride Perpetual Cup and the Maura Kilbride Perpetual Trophy, which was won by Eliseba Thomas from Newbridge Vocal Academy, who was presented with the trophy by the late Tom and Maura Kilbride’s daughter Collette.

Tom and Maura Kilbride ran the Kilcoole Music Festival for many years and were instrumental in keeping it alive for generations to come. It is in this vein that the Kilcoole Music Festival Committee would like to thank all those who supported and attended this year’s festival over the weekend and the organisers hope to see even more supporters and competitors next year.