The Avison Ensemble Young Musicians' Awards

Young musicians and singers are invited to take part in this annual music award sponsored by The Avison Ensemble

The Avison Ensemble Young Musician's Awards were set up in 2006 to encourage young musical talent across the North East Region. The entrants to the Awards receive tuition and guidance, as well as important encouragement to continue their musical education. Everyone taking part in this event is given the same expert advice and assessments. The finalists are also assessed on their talents for live performance.

The Awards themselves are four beautiful, unique engraved glass trophies, created by Dominic Fondé, a local glass artist and inscribed with music from the Avison workbooks. The Awards will be displayed in the winners' schools. The winners will also receive a small cash prize.

We have been grateful to our sponsors' support for this outreach programme:

• The Northern Rock Foundation
• The Rothley Trust
• The Sir James Knott Trust
• The Roland Cookson Fund at the Community Foundation

The 2012 Competition was supported by The Sir James Knott Trust and Joel Cohen and Andrea Toon (American Friends of The Avison Ensemble).

The Competition

Any young musician, up to the age of 18, can join in.

Students are invited to perform two pieces of music, one of which should be by an 18th Century composer of their choice, on any instrument or voice. Performers should provide their own accompanist (if required). A harpsichord is available if required.

There are four categories available to entrants, each category having its own prize for the winning entrant. Entrants to all categories will be asked to perform two contrasting pieces (maximum 6 minutes overall) and music grades will be formed into the following categories:

• Category A (Grades 1, 2 & 3 or equivalent)
• Category B (Grades 4, 5 & 6 or equivalent)
• Category C (Grade 7 or equivalent and above)
• Category D (Small classical music groups – Chamber ensembles with no more than 8 players)

The assessors will be Gordon Dixon (Executive Director of the Avison Ensemble) and other eminent musicians and music education advisors or players. We hope to offer all entrants the opportunity of master classes and advice from distinguished international musicians at various stages of the competition.

The 2012 Awards - winners and highlights

The 2012 Competition has now closed and the winners were: Grades 1-3 category: Esme Collin (violin), Grades 4-6 category: Seth Collin (cello), Grade 7 and above (joint winners): Laura Armstrong (cello) and Miriam Nohl (cello), and small chamber groups: Laura Armstrong, Miriam Nohl and Josh Sanders (cello trio).

Due to the popularity of the Awards this year two sessions of Finals were held in February at the Shipley Art Gallery - Session I for entrants in the Grades 1-3 and 4-6 categories and Session II for the Grade 7 and above category and our new chamber groups category. The winners performed in our annual 'In Celebration' young peoples' concert in early March and were presented with their Awards by the Sheriff of Newcastle.

Highlights from the 2012 Awards are now on Flickr and YouTube. Click here to see our photos on Flickr and here to watch our film on YouTube.

Highlights from our previous Young Musicians’ Awards can be seen on our Flickr photostream and YouTube channel.

The 2013 Young Musicians' Awards

Applications for the 2013 Awards will open in the Autumn.  Please email us for further information or sign-up to receive our emails and be notified when the Awards open.

We also welcome enquiries from music teachers.  If you are a music teacher and would like to know how to get your students involved, please email us.