A record-breaking number of young South African orchestral musicians will compete in the National Youth Music Competition in December.
Stellenbosch, South Africa (26 July 2026) – The National Youth Music Contest (NYMC), now in its 42nd run, has reported a record number of entries since its inception in 1984!
This year, a total of 50 applications were received, and 28 contestants from all over South Africa have been selected – three more than the competition rules prescribe.
“The auditioning panel of renowned musicians found the standard so high that it recommended that 28 rising stars be invited to participate in the week-long event,” says Aileen Maas, coordinator of the NYMC.
The contest is held among classical musicians aged 14 to 19. It runs over four rounds across five categories for orchestral musical instruments: piano, string instruments, woodwind instruments, brass instruments, and ‘other’ orchestral instruments (harp, percussion, marimba, xylophone, etc.).
A total of 14 pianists, six cellists, six violinists, and two saxophonists have been selected for the 2026 competition. They will compete for prize money of R180 000, plus the sought-after winner’s title and gold, silver, and bronze medals.
Over the five days in December, each contestant will perform a wide-ranging repertoire of their choice, covering different style periods and South African compositions.
The full group of 28 will play in the first two rounds. Then, 12 semi-finalists will compete in the third (semi-final) round to determine a top six, who will advance to a final battle at a gala concert, accompanied by the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO).
The NYMC is the only competition in South Africa where six finalists compete for top honours accompanied by the CPO!
An adjudicating panel – to be revealed later this year – will determine the competition winner and final ranking over the four rounds.
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Spotted a Pink Cap on Your Water Bottle This Month? Here’s the Story Behind ItAmong this year’s contestants are two pairs of siblings – Weien Amy and Xizhi Aiden Luo from Umhlanga in KwaZulu-Natal, and the Yang brothers, Haotian (Mike) and Juntian (David), from Rondebosch in Cape Town.
The two youngest contestants are both fourteen years old and from the Western Cape. Five competitors are first-year students from the University of Cape Town and Stellenbosch University, while the rest represent a variety of regions.
The NYMC will take place from 1 to 5 December at Endler Hall, Konservatorium Building, on Victoria Street in Stellenbosch. The final round’s gala concert on 6 December will be streamed live on this website.
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