It wasn't televised and the young performers didn't get to parade in front of the You're a Star (or even the Popstars) panel, but the selection process for the permanent tsb High Achiever Awards Gala Concert was every bit as gruelling.
The high achievers were chosen from more than 35,000 music and drama students, examined earlier this year by the Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM) at centres around the country.
From the successful examinees, 400 performers were chosen to be examined again in five regional auditions, after which five gala concerts were held to showcase the talents on display.
This week's concert, at Dagg Hall on Westland Row, Dublin, featured 16 of the country's most talented performers, selected from these regional concerts.
As the guests arrived at the academy, newly-engaged concert pianists Lance Coburn, from Australia, and Marta Erdei, from Hungary, were stepping out into the cold after a hard day on the keys.
The ultimate judge of talent for the concert, Annette Andrews, chairwoman of the academy's senior examiners, with her husband, former minister for foreign affairs David Andrews - now practising law again - waited for their son, Barry Andrews TD, to join them. The newly-elected Fianna Fáil politician dashed down from the Dáil, where deputies had been debating the Budget.
Niall Murphy (14), a third-year student from Gormanstown College in Co Meath, practised on his Irish harp before the concert began.
Anna Hughes (17) from Belfast, came with her speech and drama teacher, Sheila McKay, to perform a passage from She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith.
There was rejoicing when Brian McConnell, the new chief executive of permanent tsb, promised continued financial support for the gala event over the next three years.
With her piano, violin, recorder and accordion skills, Clare Ann Kearns (8), from Ferbane, Co Offaly, calculated that she had completed 21 RIAM exams to date. At the concert, the young maestro played work for violin by Handel and Paganini, her golden curls cascading down her back.
John Dennehy, secretary-general of the Department of Education and Science, who is chairman of the National Youth Orch-estra, arrived in time to enjoy the music also.