We are delighted to announce that Ashley Solomon has agreed to lead the final adjudication, which will take place on the Festival’s opening day, 7^th March at the Velehrad Centre. Ashley is Chair and Head of Historical Performance at the Royal College of Music. He has made recordings and performed worldwide as a soloist, and spends a lot of his time working and performing with Florilegium, the ensemble he co-founded in 1991.

Last year we introduced a preliminary round in the shape of informal workshops. This not only enables us to choose the number of applicants who go forward to the final adjudication but it is also a great opportunity for them to work on their competition pieces with top professional musicians.

In 2020 David Syrus, who has been accompanying BYM candidates since the 2018 Award, and our new team member, Michael Harris will lead the preliminary sessions. David was Head of Music at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden between 1993 and 2017. As a conductor he led many productions at Covent Garden and all over the world, from France to Japan. David studied music in Oxford and trained at the London Opera Centre. Clarinettist, Michael Harris played in the Philharmonia Orchestra as well as with many notable period instrument ensembles and was founding member of the London Winds. Michael often adjudicates for big competition, including BBC Young Musicians of the Year, and he is a woodwind coach for the Britten-Pears Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, besides being professor of bass clarinet at the Royal College of Music.

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