BFS Competitions
2023

The BFS Competitions are a chance for players to showcase their talent, receive feedback from top judges, and win brilliant prizes.

In 2023, the Competitions were held live over two events. To read about them and see all the prizewinners, click below:

Event details

• Sunday 26 February 2023 - School Performer and Young Performer categories | Recital Hall, Loughborough Schools Music, Loughborough | 10am - 6pm | Free

  Including lunchtime performances from previous winners Manni Geng (School Performer 1st Prize 2022) and Emily Moores (Best performance of a piece by a woman composer 2022).

• Sunday 12 March 2023 - Adult Amateur and Young Artist categories | Recital Hall, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire | 9.30am-6pm | Free

  Including lunchtime performances from previous Competitions winners Maia Roberts (Best Piccolo Performance 2022) and Karen Wong (Young Artist 1st Prize 2022), and trade stands from Just Flutes, Pearl Flutes, ABRSM and Forton Music with an array of flutes, accessories and sheet music.

Categories

A. BFS School Performer

Performers aged 13 and under on 31 August 2023 and approximately Grade 5 or above in standard. Performance time allowed (including breaks between movements/pieces) is 4-6 minutes. The performance can be shorter than this, but must not be longer than 6 minutes.

B. BFS Young Performer

Performers aged 14-18 on 31 August 2023 and approximately Grade 7/8 or above in standard. Performance time allowed (including breaks between movements/pieces) is 5-7 minutes. The performance can be shorter than this, but must not be longer than 7 minutes.

C. BFS Young Artist

Performers aged 19-24 on 31 August 2023 and approximately Grade 8 or above in standard. Performance time allowed (including breaks between movements/pieces) is 6-8 minutes. The performance can be shorter than this, but must not be longer than 8 minutes.

D. BFS Adult Amateur

Performers aged 25 and over on 31 August 2023 and of any standard. Performers must not currently be studying on or have completed a higher education music performance course in the past 5 years. They must not make their main income through music.

Performance time allowed (including breaks between movements/pieces) is 6-8 minutes. The performance can be shorter than this, but must not be longer than 8 minutes.

Rules

Please click the button below to download the Competitions Rules 2023 (PDF). Please read these carefully.

Entries are now closed.

Prizes

School Performer

1st Prize - £125 Just Flutes voucher & the opportunity to perform at a BFS event
2nd Prize - £50 June Emerson Wind Music voucher
3rd Prize - £25 ALRY Publications voucher

Yamaha Prize - Yamaha YFL-372GL Flute
Selected by the adjudication panel, this prize will be awarded to a competitor in this category.

Young Performer

1st Prize - ALRY Prize - £150 ALRY Publications voucher & a £25 voucher to spend at Just Flutes, £100 All Flutes Plus voucher & the opportunity to perform at a BFS event
2nd Prize - Newmoon Insurance Prize - £125 voucher to spend at Just Flutes
3rd Prize - £30 Wonderful Winds voucher, £25 All Flutes Plus voucher 

Pearl Prize - Pearl PFP-105E/OM piccolo
Selected by the adjudication panel, this prize will be awarded to a competitor in this category.

Young Artist

1st Prize - £150 All Flutes Plus voucher, ALRY Prize - £150 ALRY Publications voucher and a £50 voucher to spend at Just Flutes & the opportunity to perform at a BFS event
2nd Prize - 50E Furore Verlag voucher, £100 ALRY Publications voucher
3rd Prize - £50 Tetractys Publishing voucher, £25 All Flutes Plus voucher

Musician’s Answering Service Prize - One year’s free subscription to the Musician’s Answering Service
Selected by the adjudication panel, this prize will be awarded to a UK-based competitor in this category. The Musician’s Answering Service is the leading UK diary service for orchestral and session musicians. You can find out more about them at https://maslink.co.uk.

Adult Amateur

1st Prize - Benslow Music Prize - a complimentary place on a Benslow course of the winner’s choice - and the opportunity to perform at a BFS event
2nd Prize - Newmoon Insurance Prize - £125 voucher to spend at All Flutes Plus
3rd Prize - £50 Forton Music voucher

Atarah’s Legacy Fund Memorial Prize

Atarah’s Legacy Fund was established shortly before her death, and according to her wishes, to support the musical education of entrants to the annual BFS competitions through the award of one cash prize for a candidate of sufficient merit and musical integrity and potential. The recipient will not necessarily be one of the prize winners in the competition, but will be chosen by the Council and from names offered by the adjudication panel in each category. There will only be one winner each year for as long as the funds are solvent.

Atarah’s Legacy Fund Memorial Prize is available to the value of £500. The funds will be paid directly to the chosen course, lesson or activity by the BFS Treasurer. Correspondence between the prize winner and the BFS may happen at any time after the competition provided that the funds are used within 12 months.

Entrants wishing to be considered for the Prize should make their application using the BFS entry form (which will be sent to all competitors shortly), indicating how they would use the Prize to further their musical education through lessons, music courses or other educational activities.  

Musical integrity is something Atarah particularly wished to encourage, so adjudicators will be looking for a core musicality which is sensitive to and observant of stylistic differences, rather than a display of virtuosity.

The BFS Council will be responsible for awarding the Prize.  

Winners will be required to write a report for Pan the BFS Magazine on the benefit they received.

Judges

School Performer category - Kevin Gowland and Lisa Nelsen

Kevin Gowland

‌Kevin Gowland is Head of Wind, Brass and Percussion, Director of Woodwind and Senior Flute Tutor at the RNCM. His career started at the age of 22, when he was appointed as Flute Section Leader with The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra by Sir Simon Rattle, a position he held for 17 years before moving to the Orchestra of Opera North as Principal Flute.

He has appeared as Guest Principal Flute with the LSO, RPO, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Philharmonia, Halle, RLPO, RSNO, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic and BBC NOW. Kevin has appeared as a concerto soloist on many occasions, collaborating with Valery Gergiev, Sir Simon Rattle, Sakari Oramo, Paavo Jarvi, Sir Mark Elder, Christian Gansch, Nicholas McGegan, Nicholas Kraemer and Richard Farnes, covering a wide spectrum of the flute concerto repertoire. 

A busy recitalist, Kevin has broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and appeared at the Purcell Room; Symphony Hall, Birmingham; The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; The Cheltenham Festival and the NFA 2019 in Salt Lake City three. He has been an adjudicator for the televised Woodwind final of BBC Young Musician of the Year, the NFA Young Soloist Competition, Gregynog Young Musicians and as a keen flute tutor has given Masterclasses at RCM, RBC, RWCMD, SOTA (Singapore) and University of Music, Trossingen.

Lisa Nelsen

Described by The Times - London as “…a flautist and a half…”, Lisa Nelsen is internationally recognised for her versatility on the flute as a soloist, chamber and orchestra member, as well as an educator, mentor and leader in galvanising groups of musicians to work together. She is the current Chair of the British Flute Society.

During lockdown Lisa performed in monthly online concerts to raise awareness for charities, including The Benslow Music Trust and Artists and Residents concerts for care homes, with her chamber ensembles Aquilae Duo and  Enigma14 Trio, as well as giving lectures and webinars on performance and motivational practice methods for the BFS and Yamaha Classical Division.

She continues to make many venues a stage, and, having grown up on a pig farm in Western Canada, she takes her exposure to all sorts of musical genres to audiences and students to enable them to grow beyond their limits. From her London debut at the Purcell Room to playing premieres for BBC Radio 3, coaching the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, the National Youth Concert Band and the National Children’s Orchestra and teaching at Wells Cathedral School and Junior Guildhall School of Music, Lisa continues to have a varied life as a musician. Lisa is an Artist for Yamaha Classical Division International and plays on a 14karat 900-series flute. 

Young Performer category - Kevin Gowland and Carla Rees

Carla Rees

Carla Rees is a flute player, composer and arranger, working to develop the repertoire for her instruments through research, performance and interdisciplinary collaboration. Her international career incorporates chamber music, solo work, improvisation and recording, including a discography of over 30 albums, and alongside her passion for low flutes, she is currently working to create contemporary repertoire for baroque flute.

She has premiered several hundred works, many of which are now published by her company Tetractys Publishing.  She is Artistic Director of rarescale, with whom she has performed in the UK and internationally and appeared on BBC Radio 3, and also leads its associated ensembles, rarescale Flute Academy and rarescale Kingma Ensemble. She has a PhD from the Royal College of Music in London and was appointed as the first Professor of Low Flutes and Contemporary Flute at the Royal Academy of Music in London in September 2021. She also teaches the flute at Royal Holloway University of London and is Programme Leader for an innovative online music degree at the Open College of Arts.

She has taught masterclasses and workshops for flute players and composers at some of the world’s leading institutions, including the Juilliard School in New York and USC in Los Angeles. Performances in 2023 include in England, Northern Ireland, Italy, USA, Costa Rica and Japan. During the pandemic she worked on telematic improvisation systems and gave a number of transatlantic performances streamed on YouTube.

Young Artist category - Emily Beynon and Marie-Christine Zupancic

Emily Beynon

Emily Beynon has been principal flute of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam for more than 25 years. Born in Wales, Emily Beynon began her flute studies as a junior at the Royal College of Music with Margaret Ogonovsky and then went on to study with William Bennett at the Royal Academy and with Alain Marion in Paris.

Equally at home in front of the orchestra as in its midst, Emily has performed as concerto soloist with, amongst others, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Orchestras, NHK Symphony, the Vienna, Prague, Netherlands and English Chamber Orchestras and the Academy of St.Martin-in-the-Fields.

As a chamber musician she works regularly with her sister, the harpist, Catherine Beynon and the pianist, Andrew West. She is frequently heard on the radio and has featured in several television documentaries. She has made 12 concerto/recital albums to date, the most recent being the first of a series of 5 Project Paloma discs with Andrew West, featuring masterworks for flute and piano from the Second World War.

Emily is an enthusiastic protagonist of new music and has had many new works written for her by composers such as John Woolrich, Sally Beamish, Jonathan Dove, Errollyn Wallen, Roxanna Panufnik and Maarten Ornstein. A passionate and dedicated teacher, Emily is regularly invited to give masterclasses all over the world. From 2009 – 2021, she was Artistic leader of the Netherlands Flute Academy. At the start of the 2020 pandemic, Emily established a YouTube channel with video tutorials on technical aspects of playing and various orchestral repertoire solos.

Marie-Christine Zupancic

Marie-Christine Zupancic is section leader flute of the renowned City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra which performs regularly in Europe’s most famous concert halls. She frequently appears as a soloist with her orchestra as well, most recently in Weinberg’s 1st flute concerto which she recorded for Deutsche Grammophon under the baton of Mirga Gražynitė-Tyla.  

Born in Germany, Marie-Christine studied at the Conservatoire in Cologne with Professor Robert  Winn. She won numerous prizes in international flute competitions in Cremona, Moulins, Cracow and Bayreuth. After graduating from Cologne, she won a place at the distinguished Karajan Academy and subsequently played with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra for two years. Highlights include a tour of the US under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle.

Chamber music has always been an important part of Marie-Christine’s life. In 2014 she was invited to play at Lars Vogt’s festival ‘Spannungen’ in Heimbach, Germany. The life recording of  Mahler 4 in Erwin Stein’s chamber music version was awarded the Mahler record prize 2015. Marie-Christine is very dedicated to promoting new music. She joined the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group in 2006 and premiered many pieces with the ensemble. Oliver  Knussen’s “O Hototogisu - fragment of a japonism” for soprano, flute and large ensemble which was written for her and the soprano Claire Booth was premiered at the Aldeburgh Festival 2017. On top of a busy concert schedule, Marie-Christine teaches at the Royal Birmingham  Conservatoire and gives masterclasses in the UK and internationally.

Adult Amateur category - Julie Wright and Sandy Hay

Julie Wright

Julie Wright ARCM, LGSM, B. Ed Hons is a flute and piccolo teacher and specialist. From the famous Needham flute and piccolo playing family of the Halle Orchestra, she studied flute and piccolo with Atarah ben-Tovim MBE and then gained a first class honours degree in music, psychology and education. Julie has pursued a varied freelance playing and teaching career with three commercial recordings in her name to date.

She is universally respected by all ages and abilities for her master classes and loved for the irrepressible joie de vivre that has enticed players of all  levels to her ‘Flutes En Vacances’ courses and concerts, held in such tantalizing destinations as Budapest, Venice, Paris, Seville, Oman, Bahrain, Prague, Marrakech, Moscow, Lisbon, Tuscany, Andorra  and Bangkok. Embassy Concerts, corporate presentations and musical soirees also feature highly on Julie’s programme.

For seven years she was teacher of flute and piccolo at Trinity Music College, London, UK, and for 18 years she was events coordinator and international liaison for the British Flute Society and organized the international UK Flute Convention every two years with Trevor Wye. As one of the most experienced teachers of adults, children and students in the world, Julie has visited many international educational establishments to observe and assist with teaching programmes, and is into her 35th year of organizing residential music courses for flute, clarinet and saxophone players. She is a freelance flute teacher in London, UK and music education consultant, presenter, workshop and seminar leader, worldwide. 

Sandy Hay

Sandy hails from Ayrshire on the West coast of Scotland. He studied with Sheena Gordon whilst at University in Glasgow and then with Kevin Gowland as a Post Graduate at the Birmingham Conservatoire. Since then he has remained in Birmingham and has taken on various roles including former head of Woodwind with Birmingham Music Service and Flute teacher within the Junior Department of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. He has been director of the Birmingham Flute Choir since 2002 and is a busy teacher both in schools and privately. He has adjudicated at a number of competitions and festivals in the Midlands and in Northern Ireland and is delighted to be part of the BFS competition panel. 

Accompanists

Richard Shaw

Pianist Richard Shaw enjoys giving concerts and broadcasting with a wide range of instrumentalists and singers. His many broadcasts for BBC Radio 3 include duo performances with violinists such as James Ehnes, Viviane Hagner, Leonidas Kavakos and So-Ock Kim, cellists Matthew Barley, Narek Hakhnazaryan, Richard Harwood and Li Wei, Nicholas Daniel (oboe), Martin Fröst (clarinet) and singers Nicole Cabelle, Jennifer Smith, Ailish Tynan, Alice Coote and Ruby Philogene.

He is staff accompanist at the Royal Academy of Music. He is currently writing a biography of the distinguished Russian mezzo soprano, Maria Karinskaya (1882-1942), following his discovery of an unknown 400-page Russian manuscript based on Karinskaya’s lost memoirs. His music album, Malcolm Arnold: Songs and Arias, is published by Novello & Co/Music Sales shortly. Recent CDs for the Deux-Elles label include music by Phillipe Gaubert, with Kathryn Thomas (flute), the chamber works and piano solos of Sir Harrison Birtwistle, ‘Piper’s Dream’ (with Ensemble Lumière) featuring the piano solos and chamber works of Cecilia McDowall, and ‘Fauré and his circle’. Edward Composer is currently writing a cycle of 24 pieces (based on bird song) for him and saxophonist Gerard McChrystal to record for Metier later this year.

At the time he studied piano, his teacher, Ronald Smith, was immersed in pioneering recordings of Alkan’s works for the BBC, EMI and others. Moved and excited by this unknown music Richard began an extensive search for documentary materials relating to Alkan. He is currently writing a biography of Ronald Smith who would have been 100 in 2022.

Joanne Sealey

Jo has become widely recognised in the UK as a specialist in woodwind and brass accompaniment and currently holds the position of Head of Accompaniment in Wind and Brass Studies at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, as well as being a Senior Tutor in Accompaniment and Coaching.

Jo accompanies regularly for the British Flute Society, Dublin Brass Week, National Youth Orchestra, and is the official pianist for Bromsgrove International Young Musicians Competition. Jo has had the pleasure of performing with many of the world’s leading players in their field including Phil Cobb, Rex Richardson, Peter Moore, Allen Vizzutti, Ian Bousfield, Zoltan Kiss, David Childs, Nicholas Daniel and Michael Collins.

Testimonials from past winners

FAQs