By Ellie Farrell
Many of us have heard how this year has been very difficult for people involved in the arts and especially in the world of music and song.
For nine young musicians from the west of Ireland it has been a month to remember for a good reason -at last! Earlier this month, Mary and Flan Noonan made contact with these young people and brought about just what the Eimear Noonan Music Bursary Awards programme set out to do.
The bursary scheme which was originally set up by the Noonan family to remember their talented and beautiful daughter Eimear who died tragically in France in November 2017, aims to help talented young people from the west of Ireland to further their musical studies. The bursary programme has grown enormously since it was first set up and just last month was further funded by a spectacular online musical campaign called ‘Carpe Diem Sing and Play 2020’.
Young musicians honoured in memory of Eimear Noonan
December 23, 2020
THE winners of the Eimear Noonan Music Bursary Awards have been announced following a hugely successful virtual Carpe Diem Sing and Play Challenge which raised funds to support the initiative. Sarah Hannify is a violist from Galway and currently studying a BMus at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow. She was one of those who received the happy news this month that she was selected as one of two winners of an Award of Excellence for 2020-21. She has been playing the viola since the age of four and has been a dedicated member of numerous local and national orchestras as well as a member of Welsh and Scottish National Youth Orchestras.