ROE awarded the BBC Northern Ireland & Arts Council of Northern Ireland Young Musicians’ Platform Award

She will be mentored by BBC’s Stephen McCauley.

ROE is among six exceptionally talented young musicians from the North have been awarded the Young Musicians’ Platform Award, supported by National Lottery funding through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and BBC Northern Ireland.

The six award recipients include ROE, classical awardees, opera singer, Andrew Irwin, cellist, Angus McCall and pianist, Justine Gormley; traditional music awardees, Jack Warnock and Rose Connolly.

The biennial awards which are run by the Arts Council in collaboration with BBC Northern Ireland, aim to showcase and support the development of young musicians from the region by providing individual funding awards of up to £5,000.

This funding enables the recipients to spend a sizeable amount of time learning from a master musician, mentor, teacher or composer either in Northern Ireland or abroad.

For the first time, the awards have been extended beyond the classical and folk music arenas reaching out to singer-songwriters in the region.

As well as this training opportunity, the awardees will receive two professional radio broadcast engagements, including one with the Ulster Orchestra in 2021.

“Performances at this level raise not only the professional profile of the young musicians but also give a boost to their performance experience.

Highlighting BBC Radio Ulster’s continuing commitment to specialist music and to developing new musical talent, three presenters from the station will mentor the new awardees in helping them prepare for their upcoming performances with the Ulster Orchestra which will be broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle.

Ciaran Scullion, Head of Music, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, commented: “The Arts Council is committed to providing valuable, meaningful opportunities for our artists to develop their professional careers and we are hugely proud to partner once again with BBC Northern Ireland to offer these awards to exceptional young musicians.

“Congratulations to all six musicians on receiving these awards which offers a unique opportunity to develop musical skills, learn from the best and perform live with our tremendous Ulster Orchestra.

“All of the previous recipients of this award have gone on to have incredibly successful careers in music and I’ve every confidence that the new recipients will benefit greatly from this experience.”

Commenting on her award, ROE said: “Receiving this award is a massive deal to me because it means that I’ll get to experience being inside a real studio and learn the ins and outs of the recording and production process alongside an incredible mentor who’s been involved in production for several years.

“I’ll be able to carry these life-long skills into the next steps of my career and will have the knowledge to pursue my goals of eventually self-producing my own music.

“As a young woman involved in the music industry, I think that it’s crucial for more women to get involved in the technical side of music.

“Through what I’ll be able to achieve with this award I’ll have the means to advocate for this and help towards changing the gender imbalance within this area.”

Stephen McCauley added: “Synth pop heartbeats set against soaring soul truths – from day one, ROE has carved a unique space in music that is entirely hers.

“She has that rare ability to play to an arena of thousands and still make it feel like she is singing and speaking directly to one person and that is because when you remove the banks of samplers and drum machines and you strip away the production that surrounds her words, you’re left with her greatest gift - that mesmerising voice.

“A voice that is fearless and real.”

For more information on funding opportunities visit www.artscouncil-ni.org