Young Musicians Competition 1991

The Young Musicians Competition 1990 was the second edition of the Young Musicians Competition, and was broadcast on 6th October 1990 from the Dockside Concert Hall in Rossport. 17-year-old Joe Sheffield of Farset won the competition with his entry "Touch the Sun."

Not even RTSG had predicted what a success the first Young Musicians Competition had been. Viewing figures for the event were calculated in the upper 70s (meaning that 75-79% of all households with a television were watching the event). Planning for the 1990 competition began just days after the 1989 edition had been broadcast. RTSG saw the potential for the competition, and spent millions on making it a first-class television event. First to change was the venue. The 750-seat Apex Theatre in Rossport was deemed far too small for the new production, and the competition moved across the street to the larger and better-equipped Dockside Concert Hall. The concert hall had a seating capacity of 1,300, and had more space available to accommodate the television equipment and personnel.

Also new in 1990 was the scoreboard. For the 1989 competition, the stage incorporated a large physical scoreboard to the left of the performance space. From 1990 onward, the scoreboard was computerized, and could be shown on screen at the discretion of the director.

The number of submissions rose 48% over the previous year, and the reference committee briefly considered increasing the number of entries allowed to perform. Ultimately, they decided that would sacrifice the quality of the show as a whole, and the number of finalists remained at ten.

The range of compositions grew more diverse in 1990, with three entries officially categorized as "contemporary," two as "folk," and the remaining five as "classical." 1990 also was the debut of the first song in the competition, with 16-year-old Marcia Canton accompanying herself on the guitar during her entry, "My Name."