Winners announced in Guildhall Young Artists' composition competition, RELEASE 2024

Guildhall School of Music & Drama is delighted to announce the four winners of RELEASE 2024, Guildhall Young Artists’ (GYA) composition competition: Ruvin Meda, Torin Christopherson, Isaac Schaad and Charlotte Robertson. The competition aims to support the breadth of creativity of students across the GYA network. All finalists received cash prizes and an online masterclass with an industry leading artist. The winning work in Release the Brief will be commercially published by Warwick Music (the UK’s leading publisher of music for Brass and Wind) for global sale.

This year’s competition highlighted the extraordinary talent of young composers in the GYA network, which includes 1600 students aged 18 and under across six centres. The competition was open to GYA students aged 10 to 18 and the two adjudication panels had the difficult decision of selecting from 115 entries a shortlist of 40 compositions, before a final three in each category.  

The final, held on Sunday 15 September at Guildhall School’s Milton Court Concert Hall, was hosted by Jeffery Wilson, founder and Creative Director of RELEASE, and actor and Guildhall alumna Boni Adeliyi, and featured premiere performances of twelve new compositions. The finalists were chosen by an all-female adjudicating panel consisting of composer and former Master of the King’s Music Dame Judith Weir, composer and songwriter Pippa Cleary, Publishing Manager at Warwick Music Julie Fews and Lead Professor of Film Music at Guildhall School Barbara De Biasi. Three of the nine finalists – Ruvin Meda, Charlotte Robertson and Richard Wolfson – each had two pieces featured in different categories.

The winners and runners up in each category, were as follows:

Release the Brief (for trumpet and piano):

• Winner: Ruvin Meda (Junior Guildhall) – Love Testament
• Second prize: Harry Wilson (Junior Guildhall) – Fantasia No 1
• Third prize: Nayan Shah (Junior Guildhall) – Fantasy for Trumpet & Piano

Release the Image (video with a composed score):

• Winner: Charlotte Robertson (Junior Guildhall) – Take Off
• Second prize: Ruvin Meda (Junior Guildhall) – Felix Goes A Hunting
• Third prize: Richard Wolfson (GYA Online) – Komet

Release the Notes (any instrumental group):

• Winner: Isaac Schaad (GYA Norwich) – Divertimento
• Second prize: Charlotte Robertson (Junior Guildhall) – Carnelian
• Third prize: Zach Sewell (Junior Guildhall) – Amethyst

Release the Song (original or cover song):

• Winner: Torin Christopherson (Junior Guildhall) – Euphoria
• Second prize: Richard Wolfson (GYA Online) – Feel  
• Third prize: Casey Joan Whyte (GYA Online) – It’s all about you 

Watch all of the finalists' pieces on Youtube.

Barbara De Biasi, Lead Professor of Film Music at Guildhall School said: “It was a delight to delve through new soundtracks by such young and talented students through the RELEASE competition! Judging was particularly difficult this year, due to the number of accomplished composers who took part. Congratulations to all involved!”

Dame Judith Weir, composer and former Master of the King’s Music said: “All the pieces were technically very able, the composers really knew how to write for the instruments they chose.” 

A few of the finalists told us what the competition means to them:

Charlotte Robertson from Junior Guildhall said: "As an aspiring composer, being fortunate enough to make it to the finals of RELEASE has opened so many new doors regarding my abilities and ambitions within composition. The welcoming and inclusive nature of RELEASE equally compliments the excitement of the competition, allowing room for experimentation and freedom within musical expression for each individual. Overall, I found RELEASE to be a very positive platform to face new challenges within my compositional abilities and further my musicianship and I feel extremely proud to be part of the finals."

Torin Christopherson from Junior Guildhall said: "The RELEASE final has driven me to push myself and throw myself into every category regardless of experience, and I have become a much more versatile musician as a result. It is a rare and exciting opportunity for under-18Ss to have their music performed and showcased to people in the industry, as well as meeting people of similar ages with similar aspirations."

Find out more about Guildhall Young Artists, Guildhall School's network of centres that provides inspiring performing and production arts training for children and young people.

Photo Credit: David Monteith-Hodge