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Newsletter Autumn 2025

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Message from the Chair

Hope you’ve had a good summer! We are delighted to announce the judges’ panel for the next Competition, which will be held from Friday 1 to Monday 4 May 2026. The panel will comprise the following eminent musicians:

  • Kathryn Stott and Philippe Dinkel (piano)
  • Jennifer Pike (violin) and Alasdair Tate (cello)
  • Michael Thompson (horn) and Rachel Gough (bassoon)

The judges will adjudicate Round 1 on Friday and Saturday, the semi-finals on Sunday and then the finals on Monday. We’re also grateful that a number of our former judges from recent years will help to screen video entries beforehand, including John Wallace, Sam Haywood, Raphael Pidoux, Melinda Maxwell and Louisa Williams.

Please put Friday 1 to Monday 4 May in your diaries now! We are very grateful for all the support you can give, both as volunteers and hosts and as financial contributors (see below). And please join us if you can at the fundraising talk at 3.30pm on Saturday 18 October, and at some of the upcoming events showcasing our 2024 Winners.

Mary Anderson, Chair

Upcoming fundraising event for the Competition

Saturday 18 October, 3.30pm – Trinity Theatre, Tunbridge Wells:

“JS Bach: His life and musical philosophy” – Talk by Gavin Barrett, Organist, Church of King Charles-the-Martyr.

“Bach is the father. We are the children!” (Mozart) What is it about Bach that puts him at the pinnacle of classical music, yet with a legacy and influence across all musical genres? This short talk, with recorded musical illustrations drawn from Bach’s works, will explore his life and musical philosophy, in the context of the late 17th and early 18th centuries in post-Thirty Years War central Europe. Although much of his music is religious, it engages every great human emotion: despair and grief – surely borne out of the death of his first wife and 10 of his 20 children in infancy – as well as faith, love and hope. There remain known more than 1,000 of his compositions. His music influenced not just every classical composer who came after him, but also most of the musical genres of the 20th century, including jazz, tango, soul and hip hop!

https://trinitytheatre.net/events/j-s-bach-his-life-and-musical-philosophy/

A chance to hear all three 2024 Winners performing this autumn

Other local music events, from our musical partners

News of our former winners

Amalia Hall (violin), overall winner in the 2016 Competition, is Concertmaster with Orchestra Wellington (New Zealand) and has recently toured as a soloist in Mexico, Brazil and Australia as well as making recordings: https://amaliahall.com/discography/

Edward Pogossian (cello), overall winner in 2022, is now Professor of Cello at the Royal Northern College of Music and is a member of Trio Isimiz, as well as performing with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Royal Northern Sinfonia.

Tabea Streicher, piano winner in the 2022 Competition, has been impressing audiences with her solo recitals in Berlin and will be performing shortly in Paris, Dusseldorf. The Piano Duo Steicher, comprising Tabea and her brother Daniel, will perform in New York in 2026.

Richard Scholfield (saxophone), distinction winner in the 2021 Interim Competition, and finalist in 2022 and 2024, has a new website: https://www.richardscholfield.com/about

Volunteers needed

The success of the Competition depends entirely on volunteer time. As well as hosts, stewards, drivers, and reception helpers, we are looking for people to help with organising fundraising events, publicity and coordinating volunteers. If you’d like to get more involved, please email Mary Anderson at friends@twimc.org.uk. Thank you so much for your involvement and support – you make the Competition happen!

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