Youth Music Competition Honours Founder and Increases Prize Money

The 2024 National Youth Music Competition (NYMC) will honour the founder of the competition, the late Michael Maas who passed on 14 March 2023. It also increases the total prize money to R180 000.00.

The 40-year-old competition for classical musicians between the ages of 14 and 19 years will be decided from 2 to 7 December at the Endler Hall, Konservatorium Building, Victoria Street, Stellenbosch. The NYMC is presented in collaboration with the Stellenbosch University Music Department.

The entry criteria, rules and registration form for the 2024 competition were published on Monday 4 March 2024 on the NYMC website at www.nymc.co.za. The closing date is 28 June 2024.

Only 25 candidates will be selected after auditions. All entrants will be notified of the results by 22 July 2024. The week-long competition is adjudicated over four rounds in five categories, namely piano, string instruments, woodwind instruments, brass instruments and other orchestral instruments such as harp, percussion, marimba, xylophone, etc.).

Each successful entrant will have to prepare a wide-ranging repertoire of their choice that covers different style periods and South African compositions, as published in the rules brochure. All the contestants will play in the first two rounds. Thereafter 12 semi-finalists will compete in the third (semi-final) round to determine who the top six musicians are.

The top six contenders will compete for the gold medal and the Michael Maas Memorial Prize of R36 000 during the final round accompanied by the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO). This is the only competition in South Africa in which the six finalists compete for top honours accompanied by a full philharmonic orchestra.