The North & East London Young Musician of the Year
A partnership between the North London Festival of Music, Speech & Drama and Forest Philharmonic Orchestra.
This competition is open to outstanding performers chosen by the Festival organisers from entrants to the music section of the North London Festival of Music, Speech & Drama. Those selected will be nominated to the next North & East London Young Musician of the Year competition, organised by Forest Philharmonic Orchestra and will be invited to perform a movement from a concerto (or repertoire of a similar standard) with the Forest Philharmonic Orchestra in front of a panel of judges and a public audience. The winner will be invited to play a concerto (or similar) in a full concert given by the Orchestra.
Regrettably, due to financial constraints, this competition is not open to pianists.
Winner Concert
Winner of the 2026 North & East London Young Musician of the Year 2026, Heather Mills (see below), will be performing the whole of Ginastera’s Harp Concerto with Forest Philharmonic Orchestra at 6.30pm on 18 October 2026 at St Gabriel’s Church, London E12 5HH.
The North & East London Young Musician of the Year 2027
This will take place on 25 April 2027 with musicians selected from the 2026 North London Festival of Music, Speech & Drama. Further details on the Forest Philharmonic Orchestra website.
The North & East London Young Musician of the Year 2026
This year’s competition was held on 1 February 2026 at St Gabriel’s Church, Aldersbrook, Wanstead. It featured outstanding performers chosen by the Festival organisers from entrants to the music section of the 2025 North London Festival of Music, Speech & Drama. This year four musicians were selected and each performed a movement from a concerto (or repertoire of a similar standard) with the Forest Philharmonic Orchestra in front of a panel of judges and a public audience.
This year the finalists were:
Heather Brooks (harp) who won the 2025 United Kingdom Harp Competition. She performed the 1st and 3rd movements of the Ginastera Harp Concerto.
Doraly Gill (cello) won first prize in the 2025 D’Addario String Prize Competition and performed the third movement of the Dvorak Cello Concerto
Clover Kayne (mezzo soprano) won the 2025 Senior Singing Prize Competition and performed a selection of songs from Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder
Alex Lavine (cello) was the second prize winner in the 2025 D’Addario String Prize Competition. He performed the 1st movement of the Dvorak Cello Concerto
The winner this year was Heather Brooks who won the judges and audience over with her performance. Here she is being congratulated by The Mayor of Redbridge, Cllr Beverley Brewer:
The judges were Rosemary Cook (acting Chair of the Festival), Sue Blair (Harp Professor at the Royal Academy of Music), Mary Wiegold (soprano, voice professor at Trinity Laban), Paul Hayday (from Ingles & Hayday, fine instruments), and Mark Shanahan (conductor and artistic director of Forest Philharmonic)
2024 Concerto Finalist
On 29 September 2024 Forest Philharmonic Orchestra organised the North & East London Musician of the Year Competition for three prize-winners of the North London Festival’s 2024 D’Addario Competition. Each finalist (pictured) performed a concerto movement with the orchestra at a packed St. Gabriel’s Church, Aldersbrook, London E12. The winner on the night was Esther Park who played the first movement of the Sibelius Violin Concerto. Esther will go on to play a concerto in a Forest Philharmonic concert. The other two finalists were Joseph Reynolds, cello and Yixuan Kassia Ren, violin.
