prizes

AWARDS

The Junior Recital classes in the piano, strings, woodwind and brass sections offer the opportunity to perform a programme of two or three contrasting pieces. In the string section an Intermediate Recital class was introduced in 2009 to enable more advanced players aged between twelve and sixteen years to compete in a separate class. Winners of both Junior and Intermediate Recital classes are invited to perform in the Festival concert at which those who have been awarded a medal by the section adjudicator will be presented with their award.

The Senior Recital classes in the piano, strings, woodwind and brass sections and the Recital class in the singing section offer the opportunity to perform a fifteen minute programme of contrasting pieces. Those who win these classes and achieve an “outstanding” grade can be awarded the title Farnham Young Musician 2011. A cash prize of £100 will be presented to the Farnham Young Musician Award winners who perform one piece from their programme in the Festival Concert in December.

Singers are also able to compete for the prestigious Sheila Armstrong Award for the Most Promising Young Singer. Sheila Armstrong won the prestigious Kathleen Ferrier and Mozart Prizes and became a major international artist, appearing in concerts and recitals with all the major orchestras and leading conductors. She had a strong collaboration with Ashkenazy and Previn. Dr Armstrong is now a trustee of the Kathleen Ferrier Award and President of the Kathleen Ferrier Society. In 2004 she generously created the Sheila Armstrong Award for the Most Promising Young Singer at the Farnham Competitive Music Festival and has returned to present the award in person on many occasions. The winner of this highly prestigious annual prize is selected by the singing section adjudicator at the close of the singing classes. There are no particular entry requirements. They will be invited to perform in the Festival concert at which the presentation will be made. Several previous winners have subsequently won scholarships to study voice at music college.