The Avison Ensemble Young Musicians' Awards
Young musicians and singers are invited to take part in our annual music award sponsored by The Avison Ensemble
The Avison Ensemble Young Musicians' Awards were set up in 2006 to encourage young musical talent across the North East Region.
The Young Musicians’ Awards is not a competition. It’s an opportunity to perform and try out pieces in front of an audience and in a friendly and supportive environment with feedback from the assessors. Awards are given based on an individual’s performances and their interpretative and technical development between the First Round Assessments and the Finals. 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.
We're grateful for funding awarded by the Heritage Lottery Fund which is supporting this year's Young Musicians' Awards as part of our Avison Workbooks Project.
We are grateful for our sponsors' support for this outreach programme in previous years:
- The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation
- The Gillian Dickinson Trust
- The Hays Travel Foundation
- The Sir James Knott Trust
- The Northern Rock Foundation
- The Rothley Trust
- The Roland Cookson Fund at the Community Foundation
- Joel Cohen and Andrea Toon
The Young Musicians' Awards 2019
UPDATE on Monday 25th March 2019: due to unforeseen circumstances we regret to announce that the Young Musicians' Awards will not be going ahead this year.
Thank you to those who have already submitted their applications and we are sorry that we won't be hearing you perform this year. Thanks to everyone who has supported the Awards this year.
We hope to have news of the Young Musicians' Awards in the future, so please do keep up-to-date with our latest news by following us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
The 2018 Awards - winners and highlights
The Young Musicians' Awards 2018 Finals were held on Saturday 10th March 2018 at the Literary and Philosophical Society, Newcastle. The Awards assessors heard sixteen finalists for the four categories of Grades 1-3, Grades 4 - 6 and Grades 7 and 8 and Grade 8 and above, and one ensemble.
The 2018 Awards winners were:
- Grades 1-3 category: Anna Fischer (voice)
- Grades 4-6 category : Lotte Collin (voice)
- Grades 7 and 8: Alex Adamson (violin)
- Grade 8 and above: joint winners - Michael Fu (violin) and Ned Wheaton (piano)
- Small ensemble: piano/string quartet - Maddy Clarke (violin), Alex Adamson (violin/piano), Elin Devine Douglas (viola) and Laura Haubold (cello)
The winners will perform at our Awards Winners' Concert on Saturday 28th April 2018 at the Lit and Phil where they will be presented with their Awards engraved with their names. Click here for details of this event.
Highlights from our previous Awards Finals can be seen on FLICKR: 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 and YOUTUBE: 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 part 1 | 2009 part 2 | 2009 part 3
We're grateful to The Literary and Philosophical Society for hosting this year's Finals and for generously presenting each of the winners with a year's membership of their Library.
For further information about the awards please email us. 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.
