South Africa competition season builds steam

South Africa’s music competition season is building steam towards the National Youth Music Competition (NYMC) that will run from 1 to 5 December 2026 at Endler Hall, Stellenbosch.

Six former and current cellists of the NYMC recently proved their mettle in the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Strings Competition on Friday 11 September 2026 at the Baxter Concert Hall in Cape Town.

The competition was established in 2022 by the South African College of Music (SACM) for string instrumentalists younger than 28 years. It is one of several music competitions of the SACM.

Nicola McLachlan, who participated in the NYMC in 2018, clinched pole position in the senior category, and Rebecca Gray, who will contest this year's NYMC, was the winner in the junior category.

The senior runners-up were former contestants Emma Henshall (2025) and Helen Liu (2022 and 2024). Two of the selected participants in the 2026 NYMC, Meya Cordewener and Misha van der Merwe, share the runners-up prizes in the junior category. Meya also won the prize for the best performance of a South African work.

From 22 to 26 September, the Hubert van der Spuy National Music Competition for musicians up to the age of 13 years will be held at Endler Hall, followed by the Atterbury National Piano Competition from 21 to 25 October in Pretoria.

Last year’s overall NYMC and Atterbury winner, pianist Hermanus Schmidt, will be part of the opening programme of the Pretoria competition.