Awards for Young Musicians

On Sunday 17 November BCMG is delighted to be partnering with Awards for Young Musicians (AYM) for a day of music-making at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Over 70 young people will join 18 BCMG musicians and 11 of our NEXT musicians to perform side by side in The Silent Forest, a new commission from Shiori Usui, who has just been awarded the prestigious Paul Hamlyn Award for Artists; Tension for Two Ensembles, a new arrangement by Vito Zuraj; and in a Creative Ensemble where they will create their own music from scratch.

AYM grants awards to exceptional young instrumentalists from low income families, removing the biggest obstacle many young musicians face: a simple lack of money. Fundraising enables the charity to award up to £100,000 every year to cover musical costs (such as tuition, instrument costs or travel) as well give further individual support, such as mentoring, workshops, free concert tickets and performance opportunities.

The annual Awards Day is a celebration of the young people’s achievements, and AYM partners with a different orchestra or ensemble each year. The aim of this year’s Awards Day is to introduce the young people to the sound world of contemporary music, give them the opportunity to perform it and explore instrumental techniques needed to realise it. Coming at the invitation of Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Principal and Professor, Julian Lloyd Webber, who is also a Patron of AYM, the 2019 annual Awards Day promises to be a celebration of young musical talent, and we are delighted to be partnering with the charity to run this year's AYM Day.

Artistic Director, Stephan Meier says: 

“Young musicians performing side by side with professional musicians is unusual in contemporary music and so, we are delighted to engage with AYM for this day. We hope the day will encourage more young musicians to participate regularly in new music and make it part of their musical lives. BCMG are ideally placed for this task, sharing what is at the core of our mission: performing music for the very first time. I’m enormously pleased also that our Sound investors make Vito’s Tension possible, a huge thank you to them for supporting the commission! “

Please note that the event is not open to the public but follow us on social media for updates.