presented in association with
BBC Radio 3 and The Gonzaga Band
The NCEM is delighted to announce that the following composers have been selected as finalists for the Award.
18 years and under
Ben Hadland
Laura Kesiak
Ernest Chui
Alma Nunez Debretzeni
Heath Thompson
19–25 years
Kat Farn
Edward Tait
Sequoia Ralph
These composers will participate in a workshop with composer Christopher Fox and The Gonzaga Band in York on 16 April.
Their compositions will be performed in concert at 7pm. You can tune in via this webpage, or attend in person.
NCEM
YOUNG COMPOSERS
AWARD 2025
The National Centre for Early Music and BBC Radio 3 invite you to write a new piece for leading Renaissance ensemble The Gonzaga 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 piece for The Gonzaga Band, an ensemble specialising in music of the late Renaissance and early Baroque, written for soprano, treble or mute cornetto and harpsichord (single manual, Italian style) or organ.
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 Gonzaga Band.
The winning pieces will be premiered by The Gonzaga Band in a public performance as part of the Birmingham Royal Conservatoire’s lunchtime concert series on Tuesday 27 October 2026. This concert will be recorded for future broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s Early Music Show.
