Nord Anglia’s Young Musician of the Year competition winners announced for 2022

Each year across our Nord Anglia schools, talented young musicians are invited to enter the Young Musician of the Year competition hosted on Global Campus. This year the competition was bigger than ever, with 1,370 students from 64 Nord Anglia schools sharing their outstanding musical performances for a panel of 27 judges made up of teachers from all around the world.  

The competition, held virtually this year, had five and a half days' worth of formidable musical performances from our students in a wide range of categories.  

The judges deliberated on the virtual performances and cast their votes in several categories, from Classical Brass to Piano, Popular Bands, Composition, Musical Theatre and more. Categories were also split into age groups of 7-10, 11-14 and 15-19. 

Elise Ecoff, Group Education Director, said: “It was inspiring to see so many of our students partake in this year’s musical competition, having so many more participants than last year. We believe the performing arts can help unlock every child’s imagination and help transform their education across all their subjects. As research suggests, arts education is helping students develop resilience, grit, and a growth mindset, which can help them master their craft, improve academically, and succeed in life after school.” 

Star Performers 

This year, there were so many amazing performances across the board, and we would like to highlight just a few of the winners.

 

George Socolow from NAIS New York won in the ‘Composition Classical’ category for ages 7-10, with his original piece “Excerpts from Duets for Violin and Cello, Polish Rhapsody and A Bitter Lullaby”. George was awarded first place in this category last year, and with the help of a few friends who played his composition, got first place. 

 

Alisha Lowe from The British School of Guangzhou won the ‘Piano/Keyboard Popular’ category for ages 15-19 with her performance of Hiromi Uehara’s "The Tom and Jerry Show".  

One judge commented: “To tackle a piece by Hiromi is not easy for anyone, but this was so close to the original that at times I had to remind myself I was listening to a student. I have judged music competitions for over 20 years, and this was in my top three performances of all time”. 

 

Aiden Allen from NAIS Dubai won the ‘Musical Theatre’ category for ages 7-10 with “This is Me” from the Greatest Showman with his powerful singing voice. 

The performances by our 1st and 2nd place students can be seen on Global Campus here for Nord Anglia students with access. 

New this year: Staff Musicians of the Year 

For the very first time, we also opened a Staff Category this year and were impressed by the responses from music and business teachers to Senior Leadership Team across our global network of schools. It was wonderful to see such a wide variety of teachers and schools enter, and all these performances were inspirational. 

A couple of our favourite entries from amongst the staff include Assistant Head of Lower Secondary at BIS Washington, Rachel White-Hunt, who won with a performance of “Woodwind Popular,” a piece by Herbie Hancock. 

Three teachers from the Colegio Menor Quito’s music department, Alejandra Bayas, Esteban Barrera, and Karen Preckler, also performed a moving piece called ‘Creo En Ti’ that was well received. 

Thank you to everyone who took part in our Virtual Young Musician of the Year 2022 competition. From our talented and inspiring students to our dedicated and professional teachers who judged, their arduous work and effort have made this year’s competition a resounding success!