Alumni Return as Judges at the National Youth Music Competition

Two former contestants and an internationally awarded oboist are among the adjudicators of the 2024 National Youth Music Competition (NYMC).

The competition will be held from 2 to 7 December 2024 at the Endler Hall in Stellenbosch. This year the event celebrates its 40th year of music excellence. Only 20 budding classical music stars between the ages of 14 and 19 years were selected for this year’s competition.

It is the first time that, what is described as one of the most gruelling music competitions, is held in Stellenbosch under the auspices of the Department of Music of Stellenbosch University (SU).

 Chair of the SU music department, Prof Mario Nell, will be the non-voting chair of the adjudicating panel. Prof Nell was the overall winner of the NYMC in 1991. The other former contestant adjudicator is Samantha Durrant (2014). She has recently been appointed as the artistic leader of the Odeion String Quartet and as a violin lecturer at the University of the Free State (UFS) Odeion.

Eldevina Materula, also known as Kika Materula, is a celebrated Mozambican oboist with vast international experience. She was made an Officer of the Order of Prince Henry by the President of Portugal in 2016.

The other jury members are Emeritus Prof John Hinch, Franklin Lewis, Emeritus Prof Ella Fourie, Bennie van Eeden and Babette Roosenschoon. Apart from Ms Roosenschoon, all the other adjudicators have been involved in judging the NYMC in previous years.

They will individually score the 20 contestants, listening to more than a hundred works during the contest. The upcoming stars compete for the coveted NYMC title, the R180 000 prize money, gold, silver and bronze medals.

The NYMC winner and final ranking are cumulatively determined over four rounds. It is the only competition in South Africa where the six finalists compete for top honours, accompanied by the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO).

Entrance to the first three rounds is free. Tickets for the final round’s gala concert are from R110 available from Quicket  https://www.quicket.co.za/events/286207-national-youth-music-competition-2024/#/.