Academy students at BBC Young Musician 2026

The Academy is proud to be represented by six students at the BBC Young Musician competition for 2026.

The competition showcases the classical stars of the future, with previous winners including Academy alumni Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Alexandra Ridout and Professor of Cello at the Academy Guy Johnston.

Set over four stages, the young musicians perform for a jury of renowned performers and teachers, playing for the chance to be awarded the UK’s most prestigious musical prize. 

Sitting on the panel this season is the Academy’s Dame Myra Hess Chair of Piano Joanna MacGregor, who is joined by conductor and broadcaster Ben Gernon. Peter Moore, alum and Professor of Trombone at the Academy, joined them as a guest judge for the live auditions stage. Peter made history in 2008 when he became the youngest ever winner of the competition at aged 12.

Representing the Academy at this year's competition are Junior Academy students Alice Chadwick-Jones (violin), Alma Nunez Debretzeni (recorder), Mariatu Kanneh-Mason (cello) and Hassan Marzban (recorder), alongside undergraduate students George Brady (French horn) and Sofia Demetriades (violin) , who also studied at Junior Academy.

At the live auditions, the judges revealed the names of the eight musicians progressing to the next round. Five places were awarded to representatives from each instrumental family (keyboard, strings, woodwind, brass and percussion), alongside three wildcard places.

Following the live auditions stage, Alma, Sofia and George progressed onto the quarter final. We look forward to following their journey on the competition and congratulate everyone involved.

You can watch the first two selections of highlights from the Live Auditions on BBC iPlayer now, which were filmed at Bath Spa University.

To follow the progress of Academy musicians at BBC Young Musician, view the schedule on the BBC website.