KILDARE: Naas school lands musical success

The classrooms and hallways of Piper's Hill College were buzzing with the sounds of choirs, singers, pianists, song-writers and rock bands prior to the Interschools Music Festival, a prestigious competition which takes place annually in Wesley College, Ballinteer. Accompanied by their music teachers, Ms. Roche and Ms. Byrne, students from all years made the trip to compete in the three part choir category, performing their own arrangement of 'Dreams' by Fleetwood Mac.

First year student Adam Quinn competed in classical piano with a  performance of RIAM grade seven piece Evening in the Village. Vocal soloists who competed included fifth year student Sabh Ni Loinsigh, who performed She Used to Be Mine, and Jodie Brennan, who sang Skyfall accompanied on piano by fellow fifth year, Mauricio Zanotti. TY students and leads in the school's recent production of 'Back to the 80s', Chelsy Azcuna and Nathan Vaugh, also competed as vocalists.

Third year student Lily Molimard was highly commended for her performance of Lost Without You. In the song writing category, Saoirse Saviotti O’ Halloran was highly commended for her haunting song Older. The crowning moment of the festival was for first year student Jasmine Omoteso, who took home the trophy for U14 pop vocal performance for her powerful rendition of Traitor by Olivia Rodrigo. 

Five school bands competed in the O15 rock band category, adjudicated by Gavin Fox (bass player Concerto for Constantine and lecturer in BIMM). There were performances from Midnight Buzz (Chloe Drewitt, Jessica Foster, Danny Devine, Dylan Berrigan and Amber Moran) and Pulse (Lily Molimard, Ruby Hayes, Abi Taaffe and Saoirse Clifford). 

Highly commended was The Bottles (Nathan Vaugh, Harrison Warren, James Fennessy, Aoibhe O’ Donovan and Georgi Ivanov) for their take on Sultans of Swing.

First class honours were awarded to Stone Cold (Erin Healy, Job Etorne, Shayne Imperial, Damien (Endija) Skadina, Killian Malone and Kevin McGhee) for their accomplished performance of Hotel California, and  to Once Off (Jodie Brennan, Mauricio Zanotti, Matthew Kazanowski, Stacey Allen and Lucy Keenan) for their version of Creep.

Previous success in the category was achieved by local band KLDD who came second in 2018 (they’re still performing together and will be releasing their single Little Help soon), and The Raspberries, who brought home the trophy in 2022.