Winners of NCEM Young Composers Award 2021 announced

Harriet Clifford
Monday, May 17, 2021

Eight finalists took part in a day-long workshop in York before their pieces were performed by recorder quartet Palisander.

The winners of the National Centre for Early Music (NCEM) Young Composers Award 2021 have been announced as Delyth Field and Jacob Fitzgerald.

Streamed from the NCEM in York and presented in partnership with BBC Radio 3, the final brought together eight young finalists living in the UK who had been invited to create a new work for recorder quartet based on dance-forms from across all eras and cultures.

Winning the 19 to 25 years category was Delyth Field with ‘Kagura Suite for Recorders’, inspired by the oldest form of dance in Japan, Kagura.

In the 18 years and under category, Jacob Fitzgerald won with ‘murmuration’, which was inspired by the natural dance performed by starlings.

Judging the compositions were Les Pratt, BBC Radio 3 producer, Dr Delma Tomlin MBE, director of the NCEM, and Palisander.

Tomlin said: ‘The NCEM Young Composers Award continues to attract composers of the highest calibre from all over the UK and the standard of compositions this year was extremely high. I’d like to congratulate all our composers for their impressive work and we hope that they enjoyed this unique and rewarding experience.’

The eight finalists who took part in the workshop led by composer Christopher Fox (professor of Music, Brunel University) were Fitzgerald, Matty Oxtoby, Adam Spry, Shuchen Xie and Shoshana Yugin-Power (18 and under), and Field, Mollie Carlyle and Lux Knightley (19-25).

‘Kagura Suite for Recorders’ by Field and ‘murmuration’ by Fitzgerald will be premiered by Palisander on 20 September 2021 at St John’s Smith Square, London, as part of the London Festival of Baroque Music. The performance will be recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio 3's Early Music Show.