Talented young musicians from Flintshire urged to enter “launching pad” competition

A royal composer is urging talented young musicians from Flintshire to bid for a prestigious title.

Entrants are being sought for the 2025 Pendine Young Musician of Wales at the North Wales International Music Festival in St Asaph in September.

The competition is being masterminded by Professor Paul Mealor, from Connah’s Quay, the festival’s Artistic Director, who wrote the music for the King’s Coronation and the 2011 wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, now the Prince and Princess of Wales.

Following on from its hugely successful launch in 2024, entries are now open for soloists and instrumentalists to snap up the chance to be crowned the best in Wales.

It’s being funded by the festival’s headline sponsors, the Pendine Park care organisation via the Pendine Arts and Community Trust which supports community and arts activities and the winner will lift the silver Pendine Trophy along with a cash prize of £2,000.

They will follow in the footsteps of the competition’s first ever winner, harp virtuoso Heledd Wynn Newton, of Cardiff, who enthralled last year’s audience with a breath-taking programme.

In addition to important recognition for the winner, there will also be generous cash prizes for the other finalists and an unmissable opportunity to grab the limelight by performing on the festival stage at St Asaph Cathedral.

The runner-up prize is £1,000 and the third and fourth placed musicians will receive £500 each.

The performances of all the finalists will be broadcast live on BBC Radio Cymru.

Prof Mealor devised the competition in association with Mario Kreft MBE and his wife, Gill, the arts loving owners of Pendine Park.

Paul Mealor said: “The inaugural competition was a great success, far exceeding all our expectations. The breadth of talent among the entries was remarkable and the final performances were outstanding.

He said: “This is an invaluable opportunity for young musicians of whatever genre. I would advise any student of music to grab with both hands the chance to perform for the fantastic festival audience and to have their performance judged and critiqued by some of the finest musicians in the nation.

“In addition, there are bumper cash prizes up for grabs, and competitors get to perform amidst the world acclaimed acoustics of St Asaph Cathedral and have that performance broadcast live on national radio.

“Opportunities like this don’t come along very often and they can be an important stepping stone to an auspicious music career.”

He is especially proud that the competition is based in North Wales, turning the eyes of the world in the direction of a region which he said has long deserved more recognition for its musical diversity.

Mario Kreft said: “It remains early days but this new Pendine Young Musician of Wales competition has all the makings of becoming a very prestigious event. I think in years to come it will be one of the premier competitions for young musicians and will hopefully assist them and propel them in their careers.

“From our perspective it totally fits in with our ethos as an inclusive, inter-generational care group. We recognise how important the arts are to our lives in all its forms. Music matters just as much to people who live and work in social care as it does to young and old in the wider society.”

“Like Paul, I would urge young musicians right across Wales to submit their entries now. We can’t wait to hear them perform, and to follow their futures in the world of music.”

The competition is open to young musicians who were either born in Wales or are living in Wales or who are Welsh nationals living abroad. Entrants must have been aged under 21 on January 1, 2025, to be eligible to compete.

Paul Mealor said: “The amount of interest the competition attracted in its first year was phenomenal. We had an entrant from Canada who was studying at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and another entry from the USA who was also a student in Wales.”

He added: “There are no restrictions on the type of music entrants must perform. Last year we had classical, jazz, folk, a wide range of styles. We welcome instrumentalists and also singers, the only stipulation is that all the performances should be solo, although accompanists are permitted.”

Anyone interested in entering will need to upload a video or audio clip of a performance, no more than five minutes long, to submit with their application form via the festival’s website – nwimf.com. These will be judged in the first round of the contest. Entries need to be submitted by Friday, July 4, 2025.

An eight-strong short-list will then be selected to go forward to the live semi-finals to be held at the festival on Tuesday, September 16.

From these performances, the judges will select four to compete in the Grand Final at St Asaph Cathedral on Wednesday, September 17, at 7pm.

The competition judges are Professor Helena Gaunt, Principal of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama; Rebecca Evans CBE, World-renowned Operatic Soprano;  and Alun Jones, NWIMF Executive Vice-Chair & Former Principal of Chetham’s School of Music, Manchester.

Further details are available from the North Wales International Music Festival, which is now in its 53rd year since being founded by Welsh composer William Mathias in 1972.

Entry forms can be downloaded at: https://nwimf.com/en/2025-pendine-young-musician-of-wales-competition

The North Wales International Music Festival 2025 will be held from September 11-20 at St Asaph Cathedral. Tickets go on sale from Thursday, June 12.