Community / Kristie Williamson announced Young Fiddler of the Year
FOURTEEN-year-old Kristie Williamson from Burra was announced the 42nd Shetland Young Fiddler of the Year in a packed Mareel auditorium on Saturday night.
She took home the Frank Jamieson Memorial Trophy as well as both the trophies for the open and traditional competitions.
She was also awarded The Cat Gut and Ivory trophy for the best played reel. Competition was close between six finalists.
Winnie Johnston, Jayden Moore, Ellie Nicolson, Kristie Williamson, Ami Grains and Maisy Nicolson were all selected to perform for the judges for a second time on Saturday evening. Winnie Johnston (13) was awarded the Martin Laurenson Memorial Trophy for the best played slow air. Ami Grains and Winnie Johnston were joint second in the Open Senior competition and Jayden Moore was third. Ami was second in the Traditional Senior and Jayden was third.
Lexi Tulloch (12) won both the Intermediate Young Fiddler and Intermediate Traditional competitions after winning both the Junior titles last year. Thirteen-year-old Ross Drakeford was second in both intermediate competitions and Andrew Nicol (12) was third in both.
Ollie Jamieson was awarded the Lell Robertson Memorial Trophy for the best played waltz. Junior Young Fiddler went to ten-year-old Tom Williamson. Aoife Gray (9) was second and Hamish McLeman (10) and Zara Nicolson (11) were joint third. Zara Nicolson took home the Junior Traditional prize with Aoife Gray second and Joel Baker (11) third.
Judge Barry Nisbet said: “We’ve heard some superb fiddlers over the last two days, with diverse styles and obvious love of the music.
“The standard was incredibly high, and it was difficult to acknowledge all the high points in some extremely good performances.”
Jenna Reid was part of the adjudication panel for the third time and added: “It was a great honour to be involved for the past three years, it’s been amazing to see and hear the young players develop and the standard is amazingly high. It’s in a strong place!”
Thanks to sponsorship from the Shetland Musical Heritage Trust senior and intermediate winners and runners up will receive free tuition at Shetland Fiddle Week in August run by Jenna Reid and Lynda Anderson.
Shetland Folk Society secretary Valerie Watt said: “Every fiddler who has taken to the stage this weekend should feel proud of how they are keeping our musical heritage alive and encouraging it to flourish.”
All prize winners:
