Royal Conservatoire of Scotland students and graduates dominate the final for BBC Radio Scotland’s Young Traditional Musician competition
The finalists for BBC Radio Scotland’s Young Traditional Musician 2025 have been announced … and all six are students or graduates of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
The prestigious annual prize celebrates the brightest talents on the trad scene with the winner crowned live at Glasgow’s City Halls on Sunday 2 February as part of the Celtic Connections festival.
Twelve semi-finalists – ten of whom hail from RCS – performed at the BBC’s Pacific Quay headquarters in Glasgow earlier this month in front of a panel of judges and a studio audience.
They were accompanied by guitarist Jenn Butterworth, lecturer in Practical Studies on the Traditional Music degree programme at RCS.
Watch the semi-final on BBC iPlayer
Semi-finalists with finalists in bold:
- Ellie Beaton, song – Vocal Studies graduate
- Ariana Black, fiddle – Bachelor of Education graduate
- Chloë Bryce, fiddle – Traditional Music graduate
- Eoin Cumming, accordion
- Roo Geddes, fiddle – Jazz graduate
- Miguel Giräo, guitar –Traditional Music graduate
- Annie Lennox, song
- Finn Macpherson, pipes/whistles – Traditional Music student
- Laura Penman, clarsach – Traditional Music graduate
- Anna Robertson, fiddle – Traditional Music graduate
- Noah Scott, piano –Traditional Music student
- Clelland Shand, accordion – Bachelor of Education student
Read the finalists’ profiles on BBC Scotland’s website
“We are delighted to see such a strong line-up of RCS students past and present represented among this year’s finalists for the 2025 BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician,” said Professor Joshua Dickson, Head of Traditional Music at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
“All have been closely involved in Traditional Music at RCS, either through the Bachelor of Music pathway or through related pathways or programmes, and all have contributed (and continue to contribute) substantially to the scene in Glasgow and much further afield. They are a fitting testament to the vibrant musical life of the RCS and surrounding trad community.”
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Images © BBC