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We held our Young Musician of the Year Final last night. We were very pleased that Madam Mayor - Sheila Bain - Mayor of Redbridge joined us as our special guest. Our adjudicator for the evening was Richard Deering, a very experienced judge with a long career of performance and teaching. The Young Musician competition takes the best 11-18 year old musicians from across all our solo musical disciplines over the 6 day festival and invites them to compete for the best of the best award. This year's final included pianists, singers, harp and recorder. The winner was Daniel Tahmisyan on piano. Richard praised the talent shown by all the performers but felt Daniel moved him the most. Daniel combined technical ability with emotion. Well done Daniel. As well as the Young Musician Shield Daniel also received a first prize of £250. Other important awards made by Madam Mayor - Sheila Bain were: The Felix Marr award for the highest mark on piano in the open classes. This award is sponsored by the family of Felix Marr. Their wish is that their generous prize of £500 will further the studies of exceptional entrants. This was also won by Daniel Tahmisyan. The EPTA Cup is awarded to the most outstanding pianist aged 18 or under and was won by Desmond Zee. Well done Desmond. Earlier in the week Desmond won our concerto class. The concerto class attracts entrants of the highest calibre and has a first prize of £200. The Ron Parker Memorial cup was also awarded to Senaya De Silva for first place across all Harp classes. Well done Senaya. Each year we have about 170 cups to award and many cash prizes. Our Festival has a very wide range of classes including Choirs, Bands, Composition, Solo and Ensemble Singing, Piano, Instrumental and Speech and Drama. We attract entrants of all ages from beginners to the highly accomplished. As chair of the Stratford & East London Music Festival I would like to thank the 500 plus entrants we had, their teachers, parents, guardians and acompanists. I would also like to thank the Festival Committee and other volunteers who give up their time to make it happen each year. Finally thanks to the Redbridge Music School staff who always offer us excellent support. Matthew Taylor: Chair (fb)