Spring / Summer 2026 music thread

This is interesting. My initial thought was only some? There must be a lot more conservatoire places than NYO seats. But it must be quite a different catchment too in terms of who even wants to join each. Top students may be more interested in solo competitions than playing in such a high commitment orchestra. But equally plenty of NYO players choose academic not performance for their first degree. And then there must be a significant proportion of overseas students at UK conservatoires.

Mine is one of those. Didn’t get into NYO but got numerous conservatoire offers with scholarships. They seem to look for different things and I think his age was against him for NYO as he’d only have had one year with them before he was too old.

@londonmummy66do they do historical strings as first study at undergraduate these days? I think it’s a good shout if you’re sure you only want to do that but for work prospects later it’s useful to have experience of a wide audition repertoire. It’s something we have on a list to try out in due course though.

For some instruments you are more likely to get a conservatoire offer than into NYO so don't second guess whether he will get offers. Although I know plenty who do a gap year to get a better chance of a higher scholarship.

Not sure what instrumnet they play but maybe have athink about the historic performance side so baroque flute/strings/harpsichord? A 2 E offer of a conservatoire place....

You don't have to do the first round audition, but you do have to do the in person one.

We never have.

If you get in to NYO, do you have to audition again the next year?

NCO question….do we need to send a copy of the score? I don’t think so but suddenly wondered….

Thanks horsey. Never quite sure if DD checks email at all, though may be NCO peer group chat will prompt her to!

@nearlyfinishedmusicparent I think it's difficult to predict who will get into NYO. Probably all those invited for live audition are good enough, they are looking to build a section though, so don't necessarily want all people with 'principal player' energy, so you might not be able to guess. ( Actually probably most who do the video audition are good enough too and it's really hard to shine in a video). I wouldn't take it too hard as the numbers of spaces are so few considering they can choose from so many players. I think only two or three string players got in from our JD, and same for wind. It's a great experience but there are lots of other great experiences to be had. ( Happy to chat privately if any one has further questions)
I'm pretty sure it was on the day given that we heard, with unsuccessful ones coming earlier than successful ones, but that may not be the case every year.

Those who've done NYO auditions before, do we expect to hear back on the exact date they said or is it more spread out? Confidently expecting a no, but I'm still terrible at waiting for results.

@achangeofnameisasgoodasarestyes not sure what I think about nyo as he worked really hard last year and the result was very underwhelming, even though it’s one of the less popular string instruments. We are not eligible for inspire either but have a great local youth orchestra which does really ambitious repertoire and he did some LSSO last year. I prefer nycgb as an organisation, they seem more inclusive and flexible.

similar here with prob mainly Uni and two or three conservatoire applications, predicted grades not quite sorted yet so bit in flux about which unis!

@Siriusmuggle congratulations to your DS and best of luck for the next stage! Hopefully there will be some sort of recording.

@nearlyfinishedmusicparent welcome! I’m sure you will be a mine of info for those of us (like me) who are much earlier into the whole thing.

Thanks all. He’s very pleased indeed. He’s still got a resit to do before he can actually graduate though.

@Siriusmuggle congrats to your DS. He must be pretty happy.

@Siriusmuggle congrats to him - what a way to end this stage on a high. Shame you can't see it but you must be so proud.

@nearlyfinishedmusicparent Welcome back. It's a real rollercoaster isn't it, Year 12. I swear no-one is good at the whole music A Level either. DD is going for just two conservatoire auditions and mainly uni - which is quite stressful enough. Not looking forward to any of the process.

Good luck with NYO. DD decided trying for it wasn't for her this year. She had the slightly weird experience last year in that she applied, did a not very good audition, got not particularly helpful or individual feedback, and then kept being heavily pursued by Inspire (which she didn't apply for and isn't eligible for on paper) to do lots of things.

They still send her a lot of emails... I'm not sure how good she is at even responding to them as they no longer copy me in. I know it would have been better for her if she had got involved or at least responded.

However, she didn't really enjoy the Inspire residentials she did - more about her grandma dying when she was away than the actual residentials or anything to do with NYO, and it feels like she has a massive psychological barrier around the whole thing. I feel like writing back to the Inspire people and saying 'I'm so sorry. It isn't you, it's her!'

She loves national youth choir, and lots of other orchestras, so it isn't residentials that are the problem!

@nearlyfinishedmusicparent YES! I totally agree. Couldn't get previous teacher to do anything but tell me to make DS pass Gr 5 theory. New teacher is much more clued up and sees the value of Practical Musicianship, thank heavens. They'll get onto it when a competition in September is done...

I don’t think so although I’m sure bits will be posted on line. The final is on Saturday for the top 3 but they don’t realistically think they’ll get that far, although who knows?

To the poster struggling with g5 theory - if your child is good at aural and keyboard stuff why not do practical musicianship instead - it’s all aural and playing, there’s no writing. A bit old fashioned and not taught so much but counts as pre requisite for high grades as well.

Hi, I’m returning to these threads having been on the Nco type ones a few years ago. I have a ds in y12 who is a string player and does choral singing. He is mainly into ensemble stuff, doing A level music, very good at aural but less at written a levels, deciding between a music degree (not oxbridge) and another subject- being a bit vague as don’t want to out us! He applied to nyo for second time this year but expecting rejection any day as just not quite at the really top playing level technically- this might impact conservatoire auditions too. Does other youth orchestras and Nat youth choir though. I feel a bit worn out with it all at the moment and quite emotional that it’s the end of the music journey together but also that it will be freeing as I won’t have to worry about it all/pay for it all anymore!!

That’s fantastic Sirius

The semi finals are open to the public but I can’t go because I’m at work and have no annual leave left at all.