Gregynog Young Musician Competition
Patron: Professor Ieuan Jones FRCM
President: Lord Davies of Llandinam
Thank you for joining us
Saturday 31st October 2026
The Maidment Building, Shrewsbury School
2026 Results
Congratulations to Luca Newman (piano), Gregynog Young Musician of the Year 2026!
The 2026 finalists were:
Luca Newman – piano
Inez Karlsson – cello
Nathaniel Ming-Shun Law – oboe
Joseph Sainsbury – recorder
Bobbie Chen – viola
Sebastian Congyi Wang – piano
The 2026 finalists with our Patron, Professor Ieuan Jones
Congratulations to every young musician who performed at this year's competition. Performance videos will follow shortly.
The Gregynog Young Musician competition was founded in 2005 and has become a prestigious annual event.
Entrants must be eighteen years old or under and have reached Grade 8 or the equivalent on any orchestral, brass band or percussion instrument. The entrant must live or study in the United Kingdom.
Up to eighteen contestants are selected to perform in the semi-finals in front of a panel of specialist adjudicators. The competition takes place over a full day at the Maidment Building, Shrewsbury School, The Schools, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY3 7BA.
Five winners are chosen to perform in the Finalists' competition.
The finalists compete that evening for the title of Gregynog Young Musician of the Year.
The overall winner receives £3,000. Each of the five finalists receives £500.
The date and closing date for entries for the 2027 competition will be announced soon.
The Maidment Building
The award-winning Maidment Building is a purpose-built music school, opened by the Prince of Wales in 2001, and is ideally suited to concerts and the Gregynog Young Musician competition.
The Maidment Building has acoustic wall panels in the main auditorium, which provide maximum flexibility in terms of sound, making the hall suitable for the spoken word and all forms of music. The building has numerous teaching rooms, most of which are equipped with pianos. There is also a state-of-the-art recording studio within the building.
Prize money
For the overall winner awarded the title "Young Musician of the Year"
£3,000.00
Each of the five finalists will receive
£500.00
Young Accompanist winner will receive The Chairman's Trophy
and £200.00
Previous Winners
2005 Cai Isfryn (Trumpet)
2006 Helen Pugh (Piano)
2007 Glain Dafydd (Harp)
2008 Julia Hwang (Violin)
2009 Steffan Morris (Cello)
2010 Chloe-Angharad Bradshaw (Flute)
2011 Andrew Reynish (Cello)
2012 Tom Blomfield (Oboe)
2013 Charlie Lovell Jones (Violin)
2014 Juliana Myslov (Harp)
2015 Sheku Kanneh-Mason (Cello)
2016 Kirsty Chaplin (Piano)
2017 Nikita Burzanitsa (Piano)
2018 Willard Carter (Cello)
2019 Ellis Thomas (Piano)
2020 Sofia Matvienko (Flute)
2021 Oliver Simpson (Cello)
2022 Firoze Madon (Piano)
2023 Ivan Cherednichenko (Cello)
2024 Joel Madalinski-Artur (Piano)
2025 Mayuchi Ono (Cello)
2026 Luca Newman (Piano)
"I can honestly say that I thoroughly enjoyed the competition and must say that the atmosphere, location and feedback were among the best I have ever experienced."
Ben Goldscheider
(Finalist of the 2015 Competition)
Overall Winner of the 2025 Competition
Mayuchi Ono - Cello
"Participating in the Gregynog Young Musician Competition was a truly memorable experience. The warm and welcoming atmosphere made it easy to forget the competitive nature of the event and simply focus on the joy of sharing music with the audience."
Alma Núñez Debretzeni - recorder
Hazel Cheung - clarinet
Hannah Qian Yi Yap - piano
Doruk Öztosun - double bass
The 2025 Finalists
The Finalists: Mayuchi Ono - cello, Alma Núñez Debretzeni - recorder,
Hazel Cheung - clarinet, Hannah Qian Yi Yap - piano, Doruk Öztosun - double bass