Competitions 2025 - the winners and more!
On Sunday February 23, we welcomed talented players to Royal Birmingham Conservatoire for our flagship annual event, the Competitions. Read on for an account of the day and all the prize winners!
A huge congratulations to all our winners - and well done to all the talented musicians who treated us to such beautiful playing. A massive thank you too to our judges, accompanists, prize sponsors, trade stands, the venue, the BFS event team, the workshop leaders and the supportive audience, who all helpedmake it such a fantastic day!
Overview
The Competitions is a highlight of the BFS calendar, and it’s always hugely inspiring to hear flute players of a wide range of ages and experience compete in their relative categories. Repertoire choices were also varied, and it was great to see a good selection of living composers listed in the programmes—such as Edwin Roxburgh, Michael Daugherty, Wil Offermans, Amy Beth Kirsten, Amanda Harberg, Cynthia Folio, and Nicole Chamberlain in the Young Artist Category. It was also encouraging to see a good level of diversity in the works presented; the competitions are an excellent opportunity for competitors to share their repertoire discoveries and inspire others to explore new works, and this seemed to be happening particularly well in the Young Artist category this year.
The Young Performers seemed to favour slightly older music, with some baroque and classical pieces as well as 19th and 20th century works such as by Edwin York Bowen, Widor, Martinů, Reinecke, Prokofiev and Borne, while the Young Performers presented a variety of music from different eras, such as Handel, Abreu, Godard, Poulenc, Mozart and Rutter.
This year there were preliminary video rounds for the Young Performer and Young Artist categories, with 25 live performance slots on the day, and candidates selected by the judges through a blind audition process. There was also a brand-new flute ensemble competition, with opportunities for small ensembles to show their craft. We had four entries this year, coming from all around the UK.
The BFS Competitions are a real highlight of the year. I particularly enjoy seeing young performers progress through the different categories over the years, and hearing how they’ve improved. It’s a lovely atmosphere, which enables players from all over the UK and beyond to hear other players of their age, and to discover new repertoire. It’s also a gathering of our flute community, allowing players of all ages to come together in a daylong celebration of the flute.
Carla Rees - Judge, Flute Ensemble category
The Judges
This year’s judges were Catherine Handley, Dr Julie Maisel, Joss Campbell, David Cuthbert, Laura Jellicoe, Rowland Sutherland, Carla Rees and László Rózsa. Established performers, recording artists and teachers, they share a passion for music education and encouraging young talent. Click below for more information about our wonderful judges.
Each competitor was provided with feedback designed to be constructive, supportive and encouraging, with the aim of helping performers to develop their skills.
The Pianists
This year we had four pianists: Tim Carey, Adam Johnson, Sara Wilander and Richard Shaw. Their professional and friendly approach helped to put performers at ease, and they impressed us all with their knowledge of the flute repertoire from all eras.
The Prizes
This year there were plenty of awards up for grabs. Thank you to all of the prize sponsors, without whose help the competition would not be possible. Special thanks to Michie Bennett for her continued support of the BFS competitions through the William Bennett Prizes.
Additional prizes included the MAS prize, awarded in the Young Artist category, and the Pearl Piccolo prize, awarded in the Young Performer category. All participants were also invited to enter the Atarah’s Legacy Fund Memorial Prize to support their musical education.
About the William Bennett Prize
The BFS were honoured to award the William Bennett Prize for the second year. We are incredibly grateful to Michie Bennett for entrusting us with this legacy, which will enable us to award this prize for a number of years. As one of the founding members of the BFS, and our President for many years, we cannot think of a better way to commemorate Wibb’s extraordinary life and his profound impact on the flute world.
About the Atarah’s Legacy Fund Memorial Prize
Atarah’s Legacy Fund was introduced in accordance with the wishes of Atarah Ben-Tovim MBE, our past Chair and a legend in the flute community. It was established shortly before her death to support the musical education of a Competitions entrant of merit, musical integrity and potential. All entrants could put themselves forward, and the winner was chosen by the Prize’s panel, made up of the Competitions adjudicators, the prize advisory group, and the BFS Council. Musical integrity is something Atarah particularly wished to encourage, so the panel prioritised a core musicality rather than a display of virtuosity.
Thank you to everyone who has donated to Atarah’s Legacy Fund to make this prize possible.
Young Artist Category
From the beginning of the day the atmosphere felt like a showcase of talent, and the flute, rather than a tense competition.
With most of the pieces performed written by living composers, and a good percentage by female composers, this was a real celebration of new music. The performers really demonstrated the range of the flute and piccolo, from beautiful expressive melodies to pushing the instrument to its limit with extended techniques. We heard everything from the lyrical romanticism of Rachmaninoff to an innovative work by Amy Beth Kirsten.
Those that performed with a pianist displayed a real collaboration, which with a small amount of rehearsal time was lovely to witness. The musicians truly gave great performances with great character, tone, technique and passion, using a large variety of repertoire spanning hundreds of years, demonstrating how modern flautists use their instrument to its full potential. Each performer showed the high standard of music schools and conservatoires around the UK and across Europe.
“What a brilliant day of flute playing we were treated to. The range of repertoire was huge, from gorgeous standard pieces to the best in contemporary music. It was inspiring to hear so many musically committed performances, and highlights included some magical softer colours from a few players which I will remember for a long time. Congratulations to all who played, and the best of luck on your musical journeys.”
Laura Jellicoe - Judge, Young Artist category
PRIZE WINNERS
1st Prize: Margherita Brodski - William Bennett Prize of £2000, and a 45-minute performance at the Just Flutes Festival in August
2nd Prize: Lucy Rowan - Wiseman traditional flute case and the opportunity to perform at a BFS event
3rd Prize: Daisy Noton and Jessica Pun Lai Yuen - ALRY Prize of £100 each
Highly Commended: Jess Foxwell, Joseph Geary, Agnese Ieva Lipska and Natalie Ngai
MAS Prize: Lucy Rowan - one year’s free subscription to the Musician’s Answering Service, the leading UK diary service for orchestral and session musicians
Young Performer Category
The sound and musicality from these aspiring flautists showed an incredibly high standard. They demonstrated that, regardless of the fact they’re young students, they could create an enjoyable, lively and engaging performance experience.
“We have both thoroughly enjoyed listening to the upcoming talent in the Young Performer’s category; there has been a wide range of repertoire performed to an incredibly high standard and it has been a privilege listening to everyone today.”
David Cuthbert & Joss Campbell - Judges, Young Performer category
PRIZE WINNERS
1st Prize: Martyna Kruk - William Bennett Prize of £1000, and the chance to perform at a BFS event
2nd Prize: Chonchanok Sophonpanich - ALRY Prize of £300
3rd Prize: Ailish Steele and Hana Hapney - a €50 Furore Verlag voucher and £50 Just Flutes Voucher
Highly Commended: Catherine Li and Pin-Chieh Chou
Pearl Prize: Pin-Chieh Chou - a Pearl PFP-105E piccolo
School Performer
The day started bright and early with some very eager but quiet participants. Everyone soon settled into a wonderful ensemble session with exciting jazzy repertoire, led by our fabulous, friendly judges, which really brought everyone together and broke the ice.
Very quickly the sound of the ensemble was incredibly confident and we were in for an exciting day of competition with an excellent standard of musicianship from such young competitors. Throughout the day everyone was super eager and the class ran smoothly, with some amazing talent on display. It was an incredibly friendly atmosphere and everyone was excited to support each other.
Despite their size these young flautists showed such amazing talent and dedication within their performances. You can clearly see them beginning to develop their musical abilities and have a great grasp on their instrument.
“The future looks bright with our next generation of flute players. It was a real pleasure to hear the high level of playing from the School Performers.”
Catherine Handley & Julie Maisel - Judges, School Performer category
PRIZE WINNERS
1st Prize: Theo Bamford-Mills - William Bennett Prize of £500, and the chance to perform at a BFS event
2nd Prize: Daniel Valeev - Funky Flute Cases flute case
3rd Prize: Alexandra Chwu - Newmoon Insurance cash prize of £50
Highly Commended - Aurora Yu Chin Chan and Leo Zhang-Wei
Flute Ensemble
Flute Ensemble prizewinners
“It’s been absolutely brilliant to hear the Ensemble class and it was a privilege to adjudicate such talented groups.”
László Rózsa - Judge, Flute Ensemble category
PRIZE WINNERS
Catherine Li
1st Prize: Zephyr Flutes - BFS prize of £350 of support towards putting on a performance, and the opportunity to perform at a BFS event
2nd Prize: Clarion Winds - Newmoon Insurance Prize of £200
3rd Prize: The Pillars of Bath and The Fraser Lee trio - £40 Tetractys Publishing vouchers each
Atarah’s Legacy Fund Memorial Prize
Catherine Li - Catherine wins the award of up to £500 to support the musical education of a promising player from any category - read the full winner announcement at the link below.
Trade stands
We were delighted to have trade stands from Just Flutes, Funky Flute Cases and Christopher D Wiggins Music. This was a great opportunity to try out the latest instruments, gadgets, music and find a souvenir of the day to take home.
Adult Players’ Workshop
An adult players’ workshop also took place, after the first iteration last year. Under the direction of Carla Rees and László Rózsa, adult players joined in with ensemble playing and a group improvisation based on a raga. Some of the participants elected to perform solo pieces and received feedback from the workshop leaders; this was a great opportunity to perform with a sense of occasion and to develop playing skills further. There was also a Q&A session to answer all manner of flute-related queries. It was a lovely gathering of players coming from far and wide, including Scotland, Ireland and Wales.
The Closing Event
The day ended with a fabulous celebration of the day’s activities, including performances from the winners of each category. It was inspiring to hear the School Performers’ ensemble, who gave impressive performances with a relatively small amount of preparation time.
School Performer winner Theo delighted the audience with his sparkling stage presence and impressive playing in Bach’s G minor flute sonata and the Cavatina from Rossini’s Barber of Seville. Then we heard from Martyna Kruk, winner of the Young Performers’ Category, who had come from Poland for the event. Martyna performed the Hue Fantaisie and demonstrated impressive technical and musical skills. The final winner to perform was Margherita Brodski from Italy, winner of the Young Artist Category, who dazzled us all with her assured performance of Casella’s Sicilienne and Burlesque. These three performances were impressive and enormously engaging—and it’s wonderful to hear such a high level of achievement from such young players.
Unfortunately, the winners of the Flute Ensemble category, Zephyr Flutes, made up of Sandrine Jones, Chiara Guijarro Grela, Penny Cairney-Leeming and Agnese Leva Lipska, had to leave for another concert commitment and weren’t able to perform in the closing event, but they impressed the judges and Ensemble class audience earlier in the day with their very high level of performance.
The final concert closed with a performance from the participants of the adult workshop, along with guest appearances from some of the judges and the BFS’s Interim Chair, Gavin Stewart.
Behind the Scenes
An event such as this cannot take place without a huge amount of hard work behind the scenes. Thanks to Gavin and the rest of the BFS team (especially Sandy Hay and Julie Maisel) for all their work in organising this event; they are all volunteers and gave up many hours of their time to ensure the competitions can happen. Thanks also to the BFS members and volunteers who helped out on the day: Ben Baldwin, Lorna Brown, Marie Brown, Jayla-Elise Greensmith, Stewart Inchliffe and Yvonne McIlwaine.
The BFS is always on the look-out for willing volunteers to join the team; contact us via email or social media if you might be interested!
Competitions coverage by: Carla Rees, Jayla-Elise Greensmith, Stewart Inchliffe, Yvonne McIlwaine, Marie Brown.