Singer/songwriter wins public vote to represent Edinburgh at New York event
- Edinburgh musician, Alannah Moar (21) will represent the city at New York event this month.
- The New York event is organised by Edinburgh’s The Quaich Project to launch their international fundraising campaign.
- Alannah will join actor Alan Cumming, singer KT Tunstall, and Broadway star Alexandra Silber on the bill at the Celebration of Scottish Culture.
A young singer/songwriter from Edinburgh has been voted by the public to represent the city at The Quaich Project’s international fundraising launch event in New York.
Alannah Moar (21), secured 39% of the overall total and will now join the ‘Celebration of Scottish Culture’ with Alan Cumming and KT Tunstall.
Almost 6,000 votes were cast online in The Quaich Project’s Scottish Emerging Artist Competition since it launched on 12 September 2019 and voting closed yesterday at 9.00am. Alannah, who is originally from Orkney but now lives in Dalry, secured the most votes of the six young solo artists who made the public shortlist.
Competition was fierce with the runner up finishing only 99 votes, or 1.7%, behind the winner.
Alannah will now travel to New York to play at the event at the Lincoln Center on the evening of Saturday 19 October. The ‘celebration of Scottish culture’ will be hosted by The Quaich Project North American Ambassador, Alan Cumming OBE, who will be joined on the night by Alannah, singer KT Tunstall, and actress and singer Alexandra Silber. The audience will also hear on the night from sculptor Andy Scott about why he’s supporting the campaign.
The event follows the Scottish campaign launch of the £25 million project in March this year.
A student at Edinburgh Napier University since 2016, Alannah is a singer/songwriter who describes her music as an eclectic mix of folk, rock, pop and blues. She credits Edinburgh and its music scene (especially Tuesday Jam Nights at the Doghouse bar) for helping her grow as an artist.
Alannah Moar said: “It’s such an honour to win the Emerging Artists competition, especially with such a strong field of fellow musicians. I’m over the moon and can’t wait to share a stage with Alan, KT and the other amazing people at the event.
“Thank you to everyone who voted for me and to The Quaich Project for giving me this opportunity.”
Jules Haston, Director of Development at The Quaich Project, said: “Response to the Emerging Artist competition has been great to see. Thousands of people have engaged with the competition and showed their support to the outstanding emerging musical talent Edinburgh has to offer.
“Edinburgh is a forward-looking city – the competition and The Quaich Project reflect that. It’s not the first public vote that we’ve had – in 2017 the Edinburgh public voted for the design we’re developing and public involvement like this is vital to what the gardens will become.
“Congratulations to Alannah and to all of the shortlisted entrants. We were blown away by the level of talent of our finalists and look forward to continuing to follow each of their budding musical careers.”
“Alannah is a brilliant example of the world class talent we have here in Scotland. We can’t wait to take her to New York share her talent with the world.”
For more information, visit www.thequaichproject.org
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
