Tag: The Gonzaga Band

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Winners announced for National Centre for Early Music Young Composers Awards

Young Composers Awards winners Kat Farn, left, Laura Kesiak and Edward Tait. Picture: Ben Pugh

KAT Farn, Edward Tait and Laura Kesiak have won the 19th National Centre for Early Music Young Composers Awards.

Presented in partnership with BBC Radio 3, the final took place on Thursday at the NCEM, St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, York.

Kat Farn and Edward Tait were joint winners of the 19 to 25 years category with LABYRINTH and My Troubled Sense Doth Move respectively; Laura Kesiak’s In This Strange Labyrinth How Shall I Turn received the prize in the 18 years and under category.

Edward Tait: Composer of My Troubled Sense Doth Move. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

The NCEM and BBC Radio 3 invited aspiring young composers to compose a new song setting for soprano, cornett and keyboard, to be performed by The Gonzaga Band (Jamie Savan, cornett, Faye Newton, soprano, and Steven Devine, keyboard), who are renowned for innovative programming underpinned by cutting-edge research.

The composers took inspiration from the experimental and innovative music of Claudio Monteverdi and his contemporaries, evoked in The Gonzaga Band’s recital programme Love’s Labyrinth, released on the Deux-Elles label in July 2025.

The song setting explored the theme of love through the relationship between the voice and instruments, setting a poem by Lady Mary Wroth, a contemporary of Shakespeare.

Kat Farn: Composer of LABYRINTH. Picture: Ben Pugh

The eight young finalists took part in a day of workshops at the NCEM, where the sessions were led by composer Professor Christopher Fox, honorary professor of music at the University of York, and The Gonzaga Band, who then performed the pieces in a public performance.

The concert was live-streamed and is available to view on the NCEM Young Composers Award website at https://www.youngcomposersaward.co.uk/

The shortlisted composers and pieces in the 19 to 25 category were: Kat Farn, LABYRINTH, Edward Tait, My Troubled Sense Doth Move, and Sequoia Ralph, In This Strange Labyrinth How Shall I Turn?

Laura Kesiak: Composer of In This Strange Labyrinth How Shall I Turn. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

In the 18 and under category, the finalists were: Heath Thompson, HOW SHALL I TURN?; Ben Hadland, In This Strange Labyrinth; Laura Kesiak, In This Strange Labyrinth How Shall I Turn; Ernest Chui, In This STRANGE Labyrinth How Shall I Turn???, and Alma Nunez Debretzeni, In This Strange Labyrinth How Shall I Turn?

The 2026 panel of judges were: BBC Radio 3 producer Les Pratt, NCEM director Delma Tomlin and The Gonzaga Band’s Faye Newton.

Farn’s LABYRINTH, Tait’s My Troubled Sense Doth Move and Kesiak’s In This Strange Labyrinth How Shall I Turn will be premiered by The Gonzaga Band at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire on Tuesday, October 27, when the lunchtime concert will be recorded for BBC Radio 3’s Early Music Show and BBC Sounds.

National Centre for Early Music director and Young Composers Awards judge Delma Tomlin

Delma Tomlin said: “The Young Composers Award is one of the most important elements of our work here at the NCEM and is recognised as an important stepping stone in the composers’ careers. The finalists spent an intensive day in York working on their compositions and sharing ideas with fellow participants before having the chance to hear their music performed on stage.

“It was wonderful to enjoy such an array of outstanding music, and my congratulations go to Kat Farn, Edward Tait and Laura Kesiak. It has been a pleasure to join forces with The Gonzaga Band, and I’d also like to say a huge thank-you to Dr Christopher Fox, my fellow judges and BBC Radio 3, who will be recording Kat, Edward and Laura’s pieces at their premiere in Birmingham for broadcast later this year.”

Les Pratt said: “BBC Radio 3 has been in partnership with our colleagues at the National Centre for Early Music for nearly 20 years now, supporting this award.  As the home of classical music, nurturing young talent is one of our core missions, as well as encouraging audiences to discover the latest creations. 

The Gonzaga Band soprano and Young Composers Awards judge Faye Newton

Giving a voice to young composers is so important for classical music, enabling the art form to always stay fresh, reflect present trends and look to the future.  We’re very much looking forward to sharing these exciting new compositions with listeners on the Early Music Show.”

The Gonzaga Band said: “It has been such a joy to be the collaborating ensemble for the 2026 competition. The young composers have done such a brilliant job that we have eight wonderfully varied and imaginative pieces in the final, any and all of which we’d be delighted to perform in our future recitals.”

The Young Composers Award is open to young composers resident in the UK up to and including the age of 25. The 2027 edition will be announced in late-autumn.

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National Centre for Early Music and BBC Radio 3 launches 2026 edition of Young Composers Award with The Gonzaga Band

The Gonzaga Band members Jamie Savan, Steven Devine and Faye Newton: Teaming up with National Centre for Early Music, York, and BBC Radio 3 for Young Composers Award 2026

THE deadline to register online entries for the National Centre for Early Music Young Composers Award 2026 in York is 12 noon on Friday, February 2 2026.

Launched on BBC Radio 3’s Early Music Show, this annual award is presented by the NCEM in association with regular partners BBC Radio 3.

For the 2026 instalment, young composers will be working with The Gonzaga Band, specialists in late-Renaissance and early-Baroque repertoire.

The deadline for submission of scores will be Friday, March 2. Successful shortlisted candidates will be informed on Monday, March 1 and then be invited to attend the award day at the NCEM, St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, York, on Thursday, April 16.  The NCEM will meet reasonable travel and accommodation costs from within the UK.

Young composers are invited to compose a new song setting for soprano, cornett and keyboard, to be performed by Gonzaga Band musicians Jamie Savan, cornett, Faye Newton, soprano, and Steven Devine, keyboards, who are renowned for innovative programming, underpinned by cutting-edge research.

The song should take inspiration from the experimental and innovative music of Claudio Monteverdi and his contemporaries, evoked in The Gonzaga Band’s recital programme Love’s Labyrinth, released as a recording on the Deux-Elles Classical Recording label in July 2025.

On this album, The Gonzaga Band navigate a path between the ardour and anguish of love, from the most exquisitely wrought madrigals of Monteverdi to the lively and sensuous dance rhythms of popular canzonettas.

Owain Park, right: Former winner of NCEM Young Composers Award, now director of the BBC Singers and The Gesualdo Six

In the process, they explore the development of a new style in Italian composition and performance practice, through which musicians were striving to find new ways of expressing and heightening the emotional power of their poetic texts.

Their distinctive arrangements, drawn from sources connected to the ducal court of Ferrara as well as Venice and Florence, heighten the intimate connection between the cornett and the human voice, interweaving in duet.

Award candidates should write a song setting that explores the theme of love through the relationship between the voice and instruments, setting a poem by Lady Mary Wrath, a contemporary of Shakespeare.

Composers selected for the final are invited to a collaborative workshop day in York on April 16 2026, led by composer Christopher Fox and Gonzaga Band members. This will be followed by a public performance of all the selected compositions at the NCEM.

The winning entries will be premiered by The Gonzaga Band in a lunchtime concert at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire on Tuesday, October 27 2026, to be recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s Early Music Show and BBC Sounds.

This major national annual award is open to young composers up to the age of 25 resident in the UK and is divided into two categories: age 18 and under and age 19 to 25.

NCEM director Dr Delma Tomlin says: “The Young Composers Award is one of the annual highlights at the NCEM, and we always enjoy welcoming and nurturing the extraordinary array of talent these young composers have to offer.

Anna Disley-Simpson: Alumna of NCEM Young Composers Award

“Alumni of the award include: Owain Park, now director of BBC Singers and The Gesualdo Six; Sarah Cattley; Kristina Arakelyen; Kerensa Briggs and Anna Disley-Simpson, whose new work was performed last year as part of the York Early Music Festival.

“The award truly makes a difference to young composers’ career paths – it has proved to be an important stepping stone in the careers of these young people. We are very proud of our success to date and look forward to welcoming composers from across the UK to join with us in partnership with The Gonzaga Band.”

Les Pratt, producer of BBC Radio 3’s The Early Music Show, says: “We’re delighted to continue to support this award here at BBC Radio 3, now looking ahead to its 19th edition. It’s hugely important to challenge and nurture young talent, and what’s most gratifying is seeing past winners and entrants who are now making their way in the professional world.

“We are really looking forward to sharing next year’s compositions for The Gonzaga Band with our audiences at home on The Early Music Show.”

Jamie Savan, of The Gonzaga Band, enthuses: “We’re excited to collaborate with the NCEM and BBC Radio 3 on the Young Composers Award for 2026. We’re passionate about expanding the contemporary repertoire for cornett (the most ‘vocal’ of instruments), together with soprano voice and historical keyboards, and we can’t wait to work with the next generation of composers on this project.”

Terms and conditions and details of how to take part in the NCEM Young Composers Award 2025 are available at: https://www.youngcomposersaward.co.uk or by emailing info.composers@ncem.co.uk.

The Gonzaga Band: back story

The Gonzaga Band’s Faye Newton, Jamie Savan, centre, and Steve Devine

FORMED by cornettist Jamie Savan in 1997 with a mission to explore the intimate relationship between vocal and instrumental performance practice in the Early Modern period.

The ensemble takes its name from the ducal family of Mantua: the Gonzagas were powerful and influential patrons of the arts in the late Renaissance, who employed Claudio Monteverdi as their maestro della musica at the turn of the 17th century.

Monteverdi wrote some of his most innovative music for the Gonzagas: his third, fourth and fifth books of madrigals, the operas Orfeo and Arianna and the Vespers of 1610.

Performing most often as a chamber ensemble with a core of soprano voice, cornett and keyboards, and expanding on occasion according to the particular requirements of each programme, The Gonzaga Band can perform in a variety of combinations, ranging from a trio to a full period-instrument orchestra and vocal consort.

The Gonzaga Band is renowned for its innovative programming, underpinned by cutting-edge research, shining new light on the repertoire and its interpretation.

The band has five internationally acclaimed recordings to its credit, including Sacred Garland on Chandos/Chaconne and Venice 1629 on the Resonus Classics label. Its latest release is Love’s Labyrinth on the Deux-Elles label (2025). For more information, visit www.gonzagaband.com.