Musician of the Year 2025

At the annual Musician of the Year concert on Wednesday 27 August, close to 100 families, friends and staff gathered to support our students who were competing for the prestigious title of Musician of the Year for 2025. Held in the Marian Theatre at St Mary’s, this event is a highlight of our performing arts calendar.

The award has two categories – Contemporary and Classical. We were treated to eleven wonderful performances from diverse instruments and different styles across the evening, demonstrating their great work in the lead-up to, and on, the evening.

The students all introduced their items, giving a little background to the work to be performed. All of the students involved were incredibly supportive of each other and celebrated each other’s performances as the night progressed, even before any awards were given.

Congratulations to this year’s Musician of the Year award winners on their extraordinary performances. Johara Mistica (Year 9) won the Classical award, singing Maybe this time from Cabaret by Kander & Ebb, and Elyssa Bhowon (Year 10) the Contemporary award, singing Listen from Dreamgirls by Krieger & Cutler. Elyssa Bhowon also received the People’s Choice Award for this performance.

River Farrow (Year 10) received the Emerging Artist Award for his performance of Moonflower by Carlos Santana.

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. A heartfelt thank you to our two expert adjudicators in Mr Nigel McGuckian, President of the Bendigo Symphony Orchestra, and Mrs Claire Sexton, a well-known music teacher and theatre identity, whose thoughtful feedback will be very valuable to students as they move forward with their music studies. We also thank Dr Peter Butler, accompanist for the evening.

Results – Musician of the Year 2025:

Contemporary Musician of the Year

• First: Elyssa Bhowon (Year 10)
• Second: Lily Hemopo (Year 8)
• Third: Rowan Egan (Year 7)

Classical Musician of the Year

• First: Johara Mistica (Year 9)
• Second: Jamie Dearricott (Year 10)
• Equal Third: Mia James (Year 9) and Rory Thompson (Year 11)

Emerging Artist Award: River Farrow (Year 10)

People’s Choice Award: Elyssa Bhowon (Year 10)

Thanks to all of those staff and students who supported the preparations of the evening and assisted behind the scenes.

Well done to all the award winners and young musicians who performed and thank you to our dedicated music staff for preparing the students and facilitating the evening.