With just days to go before they were due to open, two competitions to showcase the brightest and most talented performers have been called off.

Both the Young Singer of Mann and the Young Musician of Mann competitions, the first of which was set to get under way this weekend, have been postponed, with no new date yet scheduled for later in the year.

Both competitions were to be hosted at the Erin Arts Centre, with the Young Singer of Mann first round taking place on Sunday, followed by the final on Sunday, January 23.

The Young musician competition was set to take place over the following two weeks.

Pip Rolfe, from the Erin Arts Centre, said that they were unwilling to hold such a large event while the island is experiencing a rise in Covid cases.

’It is after careful consideration and with great disappointment, that we decided not to go ahead with this year’s Young Singer and Musician competitions,’ said Pip.

’This competition involves a lot of people and it just didn’t feel right going ahead with it at this time.

’A lot of the preparation for the competitions involves the accompanist visiting people at their houses, and we were just unwilling to make the demands of people that we felt we should not be making.

’It is a shame, as we were looking forward to holding the competitions after the last couple of years.

’We had originally had quite a few entries in both, but then people started to drop out for many reasons.

’If it is possible to reschedule the competitions without too much disrupting to other events and the students and teachers, then we will do so, otherwise we’ll just reschedule it for next year.

’We’ve tried to run events where possible, but this feels like the right thing to do. It’s not the start of the year we wanted.’

The current holder of the Young Singer of Mann title 17-year-old is Evie Skillicorn.

The Erin Arts Centre have already had to cancel two events, due to Covid-related reasons, including a planned opera screening and talk with archaeologist Allison Fox.