Musician of the Year 2023

Congratulations to Year 12 pianist, Sarah Duane, who was named Catherine McAuley College Musician of the Year for 2023 at our annual solo performance concert and competition on 29 August.

Held in the Marian Theatre at St Mary’s, this event is a highlight of our performing arts calendar. Around 150 students, parents, staff, and past students attended this prestigious event, to be entertained by the diverse strengths of our instrumental music students.

Thirteen students from all year levels took to the stage to perform a wide variety of genres and styles and demonstrate their great work in the lead-up to and on the evening.

While this is a competition, all students gained valuable experience from performing in this environment and in front of a great crowd – who were thoroughly entertained all evening. In a very tight contest, Sarah Duane was awarded first place for her rendition of  Nuvole Bianche by Ludovico Einaudi.

Second place was awarded to Year 11 student Liam Truscott who played trumpet on Sonata Movements from Six Sonatas for Violin by Willam de Fesch. Third place went to Tarah Frawley (Year 10) for her original composition Little Me which she sang while accompanying herself on acoustic guitar.

Lachlan Eadie (Year 10) was presented with the Emerging Artist award for his original composition, performed on electric guitar, which was an eclectic mix of heavy metal, disco and Latin American music.

The audience was also treated to a performance by recent CMC graduate and 2022 Musician of the Year, Grace Elliot. Grace entertained the crowd with her version of Queen’s Dreamer’s Ball while the adjudicators finalised their decision.

Director of Learning and Teaching, Mr Matt Angove said “I’m always blown away by the creative abilities demonstrated by our students. To have two of our students perform original compositions, which were both outstanding, really shows the depth of creativity of our student body. The quality of performance was particularly outstanding across all entrants this year, and all students were very much in contention for the awards. Although most of the top spots went to senior students, the Coolock students were of a high standard and we have a lot to look forward to from our musicians in the next few years!”

Many thanks to Arts and Technology Learning Leader, Mrs Kris Fellows who helped deliberate on the performances. Congratulations to Mrs Deb Ross, Mrs Fellows and everyone in the music team for their work both with these students behind the scenes to prepare them for the event, and for running such a seamless and entertaining evening.