The National Youth Music Competition (NYMC) has announced the adjudicating panel for this year’s contest, which will run from 1 to 5 December 2026 at the Endler Hall in Stellenbosch, South Africa.
The seven-member jury will listen to the performances by the 28 selected contestants, who are between the ages of 14 and 19 years.
Prof Mario Nell of Stellenbosch University (SU) and the director of the NYMC will be the non-voting chairman of the panel. The other adjudicators are Dr Samson Diamond, Louis Heyneman, Prof Emeritus John Hinch, Vaughan Pietersen, Bennie van Eeden and Berthine van Schoor.
“Collectively, they represent a wealth of local and international musical knowledge and experience, covering all orchestral instruments,” says Aileen Maas, coordinator of the competition.
Each judge will listen to approximately 22 hours of music over the four rounds of the competition. Another hour has been set aside for deliberations by the panel. Together, the total hours of adjudication will amount to more than six days.
The adjudicating panel will individually score the young musicians, listening to more than a hundred works during the contest. The participants will each present a diverse repertoire of classical music.
The NYMC is, for the past 19 years, the only South African music competition where the six finalists compete for top honours with a professional philharmonic orchestra at a gala concert on Saturday, 5 December.
The upcoming classical stars compete for the coveted NYMC title, the R180 000 prize money, and gold, silver and bronze medals in five instrument categories, namely piano, strings, woodwinds, brass and other orchestral instruments such as percussion, harp, etc.
This year, Louis Heyneman, the retired chief executive officer and artistic director of the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO), makes his debut as a jury member of the NYMC. During his 25-year tenure at the CPO, his vision of musical development led to the orchestra becoming an integral part of the 42-year-old competition.
All the other jurists have previous experience as adjudicators of the NYMC.
During the first two rounds on 1 and 2 December, all contestants will perform works from their self-chosen repertoire. Only 12 contestants will be chosen for the third (semifinal) round on 3 December, after which the top six will compete for top honours with the CPO in the Finalists’ gala concert.
The overall competition winner and final rankings of the NYMC are cumulatively determined over the four rounds. The field of contenders consists of 14 pianists, six violinists, six cellists and two saxophonists.
Admission to the first three rounds (1 to 3 December) is free. Bookings for the gala concert on Saturday, 5 December, open on 26 October 2026 via Quicket. Prices for unreserved seats range from R150 for students, learners, and pensioners to R200 for adults.
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