Leith-born saxophonist Sean Megaw has won one of the much-coveted awards given to students at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland at the end of the academic year.
Sean, who graduated from the RCS jazz course with first class honours, receives the Alan McAuley Jazz Award, which comes with a cash prize of $5000. The award is designed to help with Career Development and is given at the discretion of the Head of the jazz department, Special External Assessors, and External Examiners, to a musician or group of musicians in their final year.
Sean began playing the alto saxophone at the age of eleven. In 2012 he successfully auditioned for the City of Edinburgh Music School in saxophone, piano and singing but he decided in his final year to concentrate on the saxophone.
“Jazz has always been part of my life,” said Sean. “As a child I listened to the swing greats at my grandparents’ house and from there I’ve gone on to discover more and more musicians who have influenced me, although I wouldn’t have got where I am now without my saxophone tutors at the RCS – Tommy Smith, Martin Kershaw, Paul Towndrow and Ken Thompson.
One of the purposes of the Alan McAuley Jazz Award is to finance recording, promotion and touring and Sean plans to use the money to record and release his first album.
Tommy Smith, head of jazz at the RCS, said. “Sean is a worthy winner who, like the other two winners, is being rewarded for hard work, diligence, and creativity. Previous winners have included the pianist Fergus McCreadie and saxophonist Matt Carmichael, who have both gone on to sign prestigious recording deals and to represent Scotland and the RCS across Europe. I’m confident that Sean will go on to be a great advert for our course.”
