Young pianists can shine

A NEW music competition with a top prize of £1,500 gets underway in Co. Roscommon this weekend

A NEW music competition with a top prize of £1,500 gets underway in Co. Roscommon this weekend. The King House Piano Awards take place at King House in Boyle on Saturday and Sunday. The major prize will go the winner of the senior level competition (open to pianists aged 17 and over), and along with the cash the winner gets the guarantee of a recital at Boyle Arts Festival. There are 25 entries for the senior competition, which will be assessed in its final stage on a 30 minute recital which has to include a work by a living Irish composer; the under 17 junior competition has attracted an entry field of 44. The judges for the inaugural competition, which is"sponsored by Feelystone, will be the pianists Anthony Byrne (who features in recital at King House tomorrow night) and Hugh Tinney, and the piano teacher Mabel Swainson, who was born in Boyle.