A Harrow teenager impressed judges with her rendition of Time To Say Goodbye at this year's Michael Sobell Hospice Talent show.
Winning act solo singer, Maria Conneely, 17, took to the stage with Italian song Con te partirò - or Time To Say Goodbye - written by Francesco Sartori and Lucio Quarantotto.
Maria attends St Dominic’s Sixth Form College, in Harrow-on-the-Hill, and has performed in several amateur shows including playing the lead role of Annie in Annie and Glinda in Wicked, and has sung in many school concerts and other events.
She said: “I am thrilled and so pleased to have won the MSH talent show.
“I really like using my talent to help others. It was lovely to have won and it was for such a great cause.”
Maria hopes to go to a performing arts school to study Musical Theatre when she has finished her A levels.
The Michael Sobell Hospice Talent Show 2015, organised by Carol Weston, nurse team manager at the hospice, saw various acts perform in front of a live audience and judging panel at Watersmeet Theatre.
A range of performances were enjoyed by the audience, including a young dance group, several solo performers, a Bollywood dance act and a Jazz Quartet on Friday (October 2).
A total of 10 talented acts battled for the winning title to raise £2,500 for the hospice based in Northwood.
Judges on the panel were Lindsey Fealey, CEO of MSH, Terry Harding a volunteer at MSH, Laurence Garber, a supporter of MSH, and Kate Ross, who worked at MSH as a staff nurse.
The show was compered by Shane David-Joseph, a sixth form student at Bishopshalt School in Uxbridge, where he studies Performance Studies and English. He is a member of Sharpe Academy of Theatre Arts, and has recently appeared in the West End production of The Railway Children.
The award for second place went to thirteen-year- old Miriam Nyarko, who sang ‘One Night Only’ from the Broadway musical Dreamgirls.
Third place was awarded to Jazz Quintent Enartloc, a group of students from Whitmore High School in Harrow, who performed Strasbourg Street Denis by Roy Hargrove.
All ticket sales on the night were match funded by Barclays Bank.
