East Anglian Young Composer Of The Year 2019

On Sunday 27th October, Upper Sixth pupil Henry Alexander won the East Anglian Young Composer of the Year Award 2019 with his piece entitled La Tempesta.

The competition was open to young people aged 18 or under from Cambridge, Hertfordshire, Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk and the remit was to compose a piece up to five minutes long for two or three instruments selected from flute, cello and piano. The finals took place during the course of the day at Newnham College, Cambridge, in a workshop style, with advice and feedback from the Director of Music at Churchill College, Dr Ewan Campbell (the judge), with the Marsyas Trio playing the pieces live and also giving feedback.

A selection of commended pieces were then played in the West Road Music Faculty Concert Hall in a concert in the evening - Henry won his age category and was then awarded the overall winner. He was interviewed immediately afterwards by Cambridge 105 Radio, and the interview will be broadcast on 17th November.

As the winner, Henry has been invited into the Young Composers Network (YCN), a gathering and meeting point for emerging composers principally in Cambridge, whose members gain awards and commissions from the likes of BBC Proms, Radio 3, Classic FM and The Royal Opera House. He has been commissioned to compose another piece for performance at next year’s competition, as well as being given opportunities to curate projects for the Cambridge Music Festival in the future.