BBC launches Young Composer Prom

This year will see the first ever BBC Young Composer Prom featuring six pieces commissioned from 2021 competition winners. The initiative will also launch refreshed education resources and a teacher training network. To offer better development for a rising number of applicants, the Young Composer competition will now take place every other year.

The Prom will take place at Battersea Arts Centre on 30 July with pieces performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Alice Farnham. The winners of the 2021 competition supported and mentored by composers Dobrinka Tabakova and Gavin Higgins, will deliver pieces on the theme of ‘BBC 100, celebrating 100 years of the BBC’.

Higgins said: ‘2020 and 2021 was incredibly hard for young people in the UK and so I was overwhelmed and humbled by the quality and creativity I saw from our young composers…The support the BBC provides to the next generation of creatives is more important than ever’.

The BBC Young Composer initiative will also deliver resources including a programme of workshops, films and lesson plans as well as a composition tool offering sound samples recorded by the BBC Symphony Orchestra which can be applied in music creation software. A database to give teachers, schools, and partners access to Continuing Professional Development activities and resources will also be launched.

BBC Young Composer offers artistic and professional support for young composers aged 12 to 18 from across the UK as well as helping alumni launch their careers by connecting composers to commissioning opportunities at the BBC.

BBC Proms director, David Pickard said: ‘Seeing the talent that comes through BBC Young Composer is one of the highlights of my year, and I am delighted that we will be celebrating them with the first ever BBC Young Composer Prom in our 2022 season. The future of music is very bright, and I’m proud that this scheme continues to help develop the composers of the future.’

Teachers interested in these resources and opportunities can sign up to the BBC Young Composer mailing list here.