NCEM reveals 2024 Young Composers Award winners

Ryan Collis and Charlotte Robertson have been named the winners of the 2024 National Centre for Early Music Young Composers Award. Collis was awarded the top prize in the 19 to 25 years category, while Robertson came out on top in the 18 years and under category.

Each competing composer created a new work for The Tallis Scholars, setting the 16th-century text Mirabile mysterium (A wondrous mystery) for unaccompanied voices. Collis’s work, Lux Divinae, and Robertson’s A wonderous mystery were chosen by a jury including BBC Radio 3 producer Les Pratt, Tallis Scholars director Peter Phillips, and NCEM director Delma Tomlin.

Tomlin said: ‘An annual event on the NCEM’s busy calendar, the Young Composers Award is becoming increasingly popular with aspiring young composers and recognised as an important landmark in their careers. It was wonderful to welcome these talented young people to York for a day sharing music and ideas at the NCEM’s home, St Margaret’s Church.’

For the competition’s final round, York-based ensemble Ex Corde and director Paul Gameson performed the works submitted by the eight finalists after a day of workshopping with the composer Christopher Fox. The performance, which was livestreamed, is available on the competition website.

Charlotte Robertson's A wonderous mystery and Ryan Collis's Lux Divinae will be premiered by The Tallis Scholars at Saffron Hall on 20 October. As competition partners, BBC Radio 3 will record the performances for later broadcast on The Early Music Show.

The article was published in collaboration with Classical Music, a fellow MA Education & Music title. You can view the article on the CM website here.