Welcome to Awards for Young Musicians
We support the UK’s most talented young musicians (aged 5 to 18), who, because of financial need, may be prevented from fulfilling their creative potential.
NEWS
Fundraising concert, 14 October 2009, London
We followed the success of our May event with another wonderful evening of music. After a welcome from Charles Hazlewood guests were treated to a varied programme of music from three of our 2009 Award winners: violinist Troy, pianist Grace and Louis, a trumpeter. The audience was wowed by their fantastic playing! Topping off the event was a mesmerising performance from the up-and-coming professional guitarist, Milos Karadaglic. www.milosguitar.com
2010 Awards programme
The Application Forms are now available for completion online. See our Guidelines and Applications page. You may also like to visit our Links & Resources page for details of other funders who may be able to help.
Urban Music Talent Scheme
Applications for the BBC 2009 Urban Music Talent Scheme closed in June. Applicants could be urban musicians, MCs, DJs, rappers, beat boxers, producers, promoters, label bosses, agents, journalists, managers, writers, or any combination! For more information go to www.bbc.co.uk/performingartsfund/urban
Tenth Anniversary Awards Event
On 5 November 2008 AYM was delighted to work in partnership with the London Philharmonic Orchestra to hold an exciting day of musical opportunities for our 2008 Award winners to celebrate our 10th Anniversary. The day began with access to an LPO rehearsal at the Royal Festival Hall and our young musicians then took part in a series of masterclasses with LPO musicians. Our patron Charles Hazlewood compered our Awards Ceremony, during which two of our pianists, Tiffany and Ram, performed. Everyone was then invited to the LPO’s Revealing Tchaikovsky concert. We’ve been inundated with thank you notes from the young people attending and their families. Here's just one, from the mother of Stephanie, a double bassist:
Thanks so much for such a fantastic day. It felt wonderful to meet so many other children and parents, and feel a part of a musical community. We both really enjoyed ourselves throughout the day. The concert rehearsal was amazing, I couldn't believe the solo cellist, how do people get such sounds out of their instrument? The refreshments were really posh and made us feel very special, and the masterclass was great, the double bass players were such a nice little group and the double bass player from LPO worked so hard, don't know how he kept up such energy after a morning rehearsal and with an evening concert to go to (could you pass on our special thanks to him). It was also good to hear about the vision for AYM and feel a part of that. Clearly you all worked very hard putting it all together for us, and we had a long but wonderful day!
Orchestral Partnerships
We are working in conjunction with the Association of British Orchestras to develop our partnerships with the UK's leading orchestras in order to explore ways in which we can enhance the support we are able to offer to talented young musicians. We want to utilise the tremendous musical resources of these world class orchestras in as many ways as possible, enabling young people to attend concerts and recordings, meet conductors and professional musicians, explore mentoring and work experience opportunities etc. We are currently working with orchestras including the Britten Sinfonia in Cambridge, the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House in London and the BBC Philharmonic in Manchester.
AYM has also recently joined forces with the Monterverdi Choir and Orchestra to enable a number of its Awardees to attend an open rehearsal during August of Brahms' 3rd and 4th Symphonies, conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner. They will also be attending concerts by the orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall in October. The experience had a major impact on Joseph, one of the young musicians who attended:
"Thank you so much for the wonderful opportunity to see the open rehearsal. The afternoon really opened up my mind to the huge potential that older 19th century instruments offer. All the musicians that I talked to spoke of how much they had learned since moving 'back in time' away from modern instruments. The two Brahms symphonies that the orchestra performed were extraordinarily sensitively played, showing a different and more authentic version of these pieces that were so cleverly crafted, yet still hold an inspirational air."
"Throughout the rehearsal I felt totally involved and it was truly amazing to see such a talented and renowned conductor in action."
"Thank you for an experience that completely changed the way in which I view orchestral music and playing and one that I sincerely hope I will be able to repeat in the future."
We recently arranged for a group of 2007 Award holders to attend a Studio Recording at BBC Manchester by the BBC Philharmonic. Below is some feedback from two of the young musicians who attended, which shows the impact such an opportunity has for them.
"Thank you very much for the opportunity you gave me to go and watch the live studio recording. I don't often get to see live orchestras play, as concerts are expensive and transport is often a problem; so the chance to see the BBC Philharmonic play was amazing and extremely inspiring. I loved the way we were so close to the orchestra because it really made you feel like you were part of the performance and the music. The orchestra itself was stunning and, being a clarinettist, I love to listen to as many different clarinettists as possible. I had never heard either of the clarinettists in this performance so that was great. I was immediately drawn to the principle clarinettist John Bradbury; his tone was so beautiful and I loved the way he projected the tone of the clarinet right through the whole of the orchestra even in the very quiet passages … Thank you once again for such a brilliant opportunity and I hope to see a lot of the BBC Phil in the future." (Katie, a 17 year old clarinettist - AYM is in the process of arranging for this young musician to undertake work experience with the orchestra in her gap year before music college.)
"I really enjoyed my visit to the BBC Philharmonic recording last week, thank you for the invite. From the minute we arrived [they] made me feel really special and it was so nice to hear music played by a professional orchestra. I particularly enjoyed the Cello Concerto because I had played that before, but not the cello part obviously. The cello player was amazing though. My sister went with me because she is doing a music degree at University and … she really enjoyed it too. At the end of the concert we were given a bag of goodies including a pen, a CD and a coaster with a photo of the orchestra, they are really nice. Thank you all for a lovely day. (Shane, a 16 year old bassoonist)
Here is some more feedback, this time from a young musician who recently attended a concert by the Britten Sinfonia:
"Thank you so much for the free tickets to go and see the Britten Sinfonia, Short Stories concert. It was really good! Apart from the first piece, the Brandenburg Concerto no. 3, the rest were all new repertoire to me, (although they took this piece very fast!) My favourite piece was the concerto for oboe and bassoon by Vivaldi. I also liked the Concerto de camera by Honegger which I thought contrasted nicely with the other pieces in the first half. I really enjoyed the other Brandenburg Concerto (no. 5 in D) especially listening to the harpsichord part which has made me consider the possibility of starting to learn the harpsichord after my piano grade 8 later this year. We have a harpsichord at school so that should be possible." (Hannah, a 13 year old cellist)
Our most recent Bulletin is available for download here: AYM Bulletin . It contains news, stories and feedback from some of our award winners. The bulletin is a great opportunity for our young musicians to make their voices heard and to tell us of their musical experiences. Read it and send us your comments!
Our 2009 Awards were announced in May. Emails and letters were sent to both successful and unsuccessful applicants.
Awards for Young Musicians, PO Box 2754, BRISTOL, BS4 9DA
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