As six finalists compete to take the prestigious title of BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician 2012, for the first time ever, the awards ceremony will be televised as BBC ALBA cameras capture all the excitement on the night for a special two hour programme.

Mary Ann Kennedy will host the event from the Grand Hall in Glasgow City Halls which is taking place during the Celtic Connections Festival, Glasgow on Sunday 5th February.

BBC ALBA’s programme ‘BBC Radio Scotland Neach-Ciùil Traidiseanta Òg 2012 : BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician 2012’ will be broadcast on Monday 6th February 2012 from 9 – 11pm as the finalists perform for 15 minutes in a concert setting for the coveted title. Performances can be accompanied by a professional traditional musician of their choice, from a group provided.

This year’s finalists include:

• Alistair Ogilvy from Strathblane for song – Alistair’s main instrument is his voice, focusing on Scots song. He was a finalist in the 2011 Young Trad Award and since then his career has gone from strength to strength. He is about to make a CD and has just completed the Traditional Music and Song Association of Scotland’s (TMSA) Young Champions tour around Scotland and he’s been busy performing in Scotland alongside Alan Reid, Jim Malcolm and Heidi Talbot.
• Kirsty Watt from Lewis for song – Kirsty has always lived on the Isle of Lewis where traditional music has always been part of her life with her closest and main influence for Gaelic singing being her beloved grandmother. She has taught Kirsty some of the most beautiful and lyrical songs that she now so loves singing. In 2010 Kirsty was Young Musician of the Year in Stornoway.
• Catriona Price from Orkney for fiddle – Catriona is at the forefront of the new wave of young talent emerging from Orkney’s traditional music scene. Having taken up the fiddle at the age of seven, Catriona was taught by Douglas Montgomery (Saltfishforty, The Chair). She graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music in 2010 and is currently studying for a Masters Degree at the Royal Academy of Music. She also began writing tunes at an early age with several now included in tune books and recorded by musicians around the world and perfroms regularly with duo Twelfth Day.
• Katie Boyle from Glasgow for fiddle – Katie graduated with a first class masters in Irish traditional music performance from the Irish Academy of Music and Dance in 2008 where she tutored in fiddle from 2008 to 2010. Her main influences traverse the traditional fiddle idiom – from her native Scotland to her ancestral Donegal. She is a previous All Scotland, All Britain and All Ireland Champion and has toured extensively in the UK, Ireland and across North America and Europe playing with acclaimed artists including Bobby McFerrin, Donal Lunny and Dick Gaughan.
• Roisin-Anne Hughes from Glasgow for fiddle – Roisin-Ann learnt to play music at the Irish Minstrels branch of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann in St Roch’s from the age of five. Her greatest influence is Frank McArdle, the musical director responsible for a long line of talented musicians coming from St Roch’s. Roisin-Ann has been Scottish Fiddle Champion 11 times, British Fiddle Champion five times as well as three times All Ireland Mouth Organ Champion. At Celtic Connections 2011 her band Yuptae, with whom she plays accordion, won a Danny Kyle Award and since then have performed at many events around Scotland.
• Rona Wilkie from Oban for fiddle and song – having grown up in a musical family, Rona was introduced to traditional music early and trained in both Highland fiddle style and classical music, and became interested in singing when she attended Gaelic medium primary school. Rona led fiddle group Gizzen Briggs for several years which performed at the opening of the Scottish Parliament in front of the Queen and the First Minister. She has taught at several fiddle camps in the USA and has played alongside many wonderful musicians such as April Verch, Brian Wicklund and Brad Leftwich in cross-genre performances. Rona is currently studying for a Masters degree at Newcastle University and, with the performance aspect, aims to fuse Highland music with that of the Americas, drawing particularly on Appalachian melodies.

The winner of the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician 2012 will be awarded a recording session with BBC Scotland, performance at the Scots Trad Music Awards, one year’s membership of Musicians Union, and all finalists get one year’s membership of the Traditional Music and Song Association of Scotland (TMSA) plus the opportunity to take part in the TMSA’s annual Young Trad Tour.

‘BBC Radio Scotland Neach-Ciùil Traidiseanta Òg 2012 : BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician 2012’ will be broadcast on BBC ALBA on Monday 6th February 2012 from 9 – 11pm and repeated on Friday 10th February at 10pm.

Source: BBC ALBA