Latest News
13th May 2012
Yesterday Charlotte Barbour-Condini won her way through to the final of the BBC Young Musician 2012 Competition with a superb programme. She was the first person to reach that far in the history of the competition playing the recorder.
This evening, in the finals, she was up against two performers playing the piano and cello. Despite her outstanding efforts playing a technically very difficult concerto by Vivaldi, she was pipped to the post by the cellist. The good news is that she is still of an age where we may see her again in the 2014 competition.
9th May 2012
Very exciting preliminary rounds were held at the Royal Masonic School with the standard of musicianship as high, if not higher than ever. The Finals on Saturday 7th July will be a closely fought event with performances across the full spectrum of strings, woodwind and brass.
8th April 2012
The preliminary rounds of the 2012 competition will be held at the Royal Masonic School, Rickmansworth in the New Mark Hall on 8th and 9th May, starting at 7:00 pm. This year we have 30 entrants ranging across strings, woodwind, brass, piano and voice. We are delighted to see a number of competitors are returning for the second or even third time.
This event is free for members of the audience and everyone is very welcome to attend.
1st April, 2012
Please note that entry for the 2012 competition is now closed.
2nd February, 2012
Two of our previous winners will be appearing at the Amersham Festival in April.
Katy Smith, the 2011 winner on violin, will be one of three artists giving a recital in St Mary's Church, Old Amersham on Sunday 22nd April at 2.45.
Charlotte Barbour-Condini, the 2010 winner on recorder, will be taking part in a Master Class given by Philip Thornby at Amersham School on Sunday 15th April, also at 2.45. Although still aged only 15, she has recently won her way through to the 2012 BBC Young Musician of the Year Woodwind Category Finals which will be held in Wales on 8th March.
Details of the Amersham Festival can be found on their website at http://amershamfestival.org
24 October 2011
Key dates for the 2012 Competition
Preliminary Rounds
Tuesday 8th May - Wednesday 9th May 2011 starting at 7:00 pm
New Mark Hall, Royal Masonic School, Rickmansworth
Final Round
Saturday 7th July 2011 starting at 7:00 pm
St Mary's Church, Rickmansworth
Highlights from the 2011 Competition
Final Concert - 2nd July at St Marys Church, Rickmansworth
The concert was well attended and all finalists gave super performances. The judges had a difficult time but awarded the prizes as follows:
1st place - Katy Smith (violin)
2nd place - Chantal Osindero (piano)
3rd place - Su Yeon Kim ('cello)
and Highly Commended was awarded to Angelika Strangl (oboe).
Well done to all of our finalists.
16 May 2011
The preliminary rounds were held at the Royal Masonic School and as usual, the standard was excellent and we enjoyed playing before a substantial audience. Eight finalists were chosen and these will perform at St Mary's Church, Rickmansworth on Saturday 2nd July.
They are, in order of performance in the heats:
Chantal Osindero (Piano)
James Wagg (Trumpet)
Sebastian Leaper (Guitar)
Kotaro Fujiyoshi (Violin)
Angelika Stangl (Oboe)
Su Yeon Kim (Cello)
Katy Smith (Violin)
Alexander Pott (Piano)
Young Artists' Recital
Amersham Festival of Music, Sunday 10th April, 2:45pm
Young musicians are always looking for opportunities to perform in public
and we recognise that this is as important as any monetary prize. This
year we have forged links with Amersham Festival of Music, which for some
years has reserved a concert for students of the highest standard.
Three of our finalists from 2010, including the winner and runner-up, are
performing at the Young Artists' Recital which is to be held in St Mary's Church,
Old Amersham, on Sunday 10th April, starting at 2:45pm. It will be a
wonderful chance to hear these exciting performers at their best.
Visit Amersham Festival of Music for more information.
30 January 2011
Interview with Charlotte Barbour-Condini
Rickmansworth Young Musician of the Year Competition Winner 2010
The 2010 competition attracted a record number of entrants (51), with keyboard, percussion, strings, brass and woodwind all represented. However, it was 14-year-old Charlotte Barbour-Condini from Stoke Newington who received the top prize for her outstanding performances on the alto recorder. This was the first time a musician has won the competition playing this instrument.
We met Charlotte, a pupil of the City of London School for Girls in Barbican, during her lunch break on bright but chilly mid-January afternoon. At just 14, Charlotte has already established a reputation for excellence on a number of instruments, having also received awards for outstanding performances on both piano and violin. We had also heard that Charlotte is a competitive swimmer of some note. With so many achievements to her name the first question that came to our minds was why Charlotte chose to enter the RYMY competition with the alto recorder.
"People have this generalisation of the recorder as not a proper instrument", she says. "I find that most people under-rate it because they are made to learn it at school, and they play on plastic instruments that aren’t necessarily very good. I decided that actually the recorder is a proper instrument – there's a lot of great baroque music that you can play on the recorder. To win a Young Musician of the Year competition, you've got to enjoy playing your instrument; you've got to enjoy performing and you’ve got to enjoy the pieces you’re playing."
Practice
So how much practice does it take to reach the standard required to win against the best young musicians in the area? "Regular practice", is, unsurprisingly, Charlotte's reply. "But not practising for two hours a day and then not picking up the instrument again for the rest of the week!"
Charlotte says winning the competition came as a huge shock. "It was very, very surprising to win. When they read my name out I thought "Is it actually me?! But it was definitely a nice surprise."
Confidence
The competition finalists endure two rounds of judging. Charlotte says the experience of being judged by professional adjudicators is a good reason to enter the competition. "It's made me a lot more confident about performing. After the first round, the judges talk to you about your performance, praising what was good and suggesting how you might improve. After the second round they give you a sheet that tells you what else you can improve on."
Asked to sum up the benefits of entering the RYMY competition, Charlotte says, "I think taking part in the competition is a really good performance opportunity and also it gives you a chance to meet other musicians."