Applications open for NCEM Young Composers Award

Applications are now open for the NCEM Young Composers Award 2022. Presented by the National Centre for Early Music in association with BBC Radio 3, entrants aged 25 and under are invited to write a new three to four minute work for a string quartet.

The Award is open to residents of the UK up to the age of 25 and is judged in two age categories: 18 and under, and 19–25. NCEM director, Delma Tomlin MBE, said: ‘The Young Composers Award is one of the most important dates in the NCEM’s calendar and gives us a vital opportunity to work with the wider community. Last year we received an astonishing number of applications from all over the UK and we’re sure that enthusiasm to take part will just keep on growing.’

This month, BBC Radio 3’s Early Music Show launched the awards, which will also see BBC New Generation Artists the Consone Quartet welcomed as partners. The Quartet, who play period instruments using gut strings and champion the work of Fanny Mendelssohn, commented: ‘Having competed in the NCEM's International Young Artists Competition, we appreciate how much these sorts of opportunities can help to kickstart a young musician's career.’

Shortlisted composers will attend the Award Day in May 2022 at the National Centre for Early Music (NCEM) in York, with their compositions presented by the Consone Quartet in a workshop led by composer Professor Christopher Fox. In the evening, the Quartet will perform the pieces for a panel of judges.

The two winning pieces, one from each age category (18 and under, and 19–25), will be premiered by the Consone Quartet at Stour Music festival in June 2022 with the performance recorded for future broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s Early Music Show.

BBC Radio 3 and classical music controller, Alan Davey said: ‘As COVID restrictions lift and we are able to celebrate the return of live music to UK stages, BBC Radio 3 believes it is vital to give appreciation and encouragement to young composers and performers who represent the future of music in this country.’

Entrants must register on the NCEM Young Composers Award website by 18 February 2022 and submit their scores within a month (by 18 March).