‘Prodigy’ Mairéad wins top accolade

A 14-YEAR-OLD girl from Cork has won the prestigious National Concert Hall Young Musicians’ Award, which came with a €8,000 cheque.

Mairéad Hickey, a student at Mount Mercy College who currently attends the Cork School of Music, intends to use the prize money to buy a bow and to attend master- classes in Romania and France.

She won through from a shortlist of five finalists who had to perform live auditions with guest judges Yossi Zivoni and Simon Aspell.