presented in association with
BBC Radio 3 and The Brook Street Band
Winner in the 18 and under category: Avram Harris
Winner in the 19-25 category:
Kit McCarthy
The winning pieces will be premiered on Friday 3 October 2025 by The Brook Street Band as part of the love: Handel festival.
The shortlisted pieces were:
18 years and under
Avram Harris
Transient Variations
Pol Macip Porter
Fugue (Tristesa)
Laura Kesiak
A Vintage Television
Ben Greenwood
Drowsiness Changes
Edward Harris-Brown
Sir Trip-a-lot's Merriment
19–25 years
Kit McCarthy
Molten Kaleidoscope
Parmida Eslaminazari
Celestial Reverie
Brandon Craig
Petit Matin
NCEM
YOUNG COMPOSERS
AWARD 2025
The National Centre for Early Music and BBC Radio 3 invited composers to write a new piece for leading baroque ensemble The Brook Street Band.
The Award is open to young composers resident in the UK up to and including the age of 25, and is judged in two age categories: 18 and under, and 19–25.
This year's brief was to compose a new trio sonata movement, for two violins, cello, and harpsichord. Composers were invited to explore a particular musical world and character in their piece lasting between three and four minutes, thinking especially about the interplay between the instruments. Composers could take a movement from Handel’s Opus 5 Trio Sonatas as a reference point. Please see the Terms & Conditions for full details about the music brief.
The annual NCEM Young Composers Award was launched in 2008 and is the only such scheme in the UK. It offers a unique opportunity for young composers to engage with the instruments and performance styles of early music, and to work with leading professional early musicians. In bridging the worlds of ‘early’ and ‘new’ music, the Award complements the NCEM’s education policy, to support and nurture young composers and demonstrate to all participants that the music of previous centuries is relevant to today’s creative endeavours.
This year the National Centre for Early Music is working with The Brook Street Band.
The winning pieces will be premiered at the love:Handel festival , an annual festival run by The Brook Street Band in and around Norwich.
