The BFS’ flagship annual event, the Competitions are a chance for flute players to showcase their talent, receive feedback from top judges and win brilliant prizes.

Join us at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire on Sunday February 23rd for a day of inspiring music from our talented competitors - entry is free and all are welcome!

We’re delighted to be returning to the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire for another year to celebrate flute-playing. All are welcome to join the audience, support the players and enjoy a day of beautiful music - and for the first time, the prize-giving will include performances from all the first-prize category winners - not to be missed!

There’ll also be trade stands on-site throughout the day with an array of instruments, accessories and sheet music - a great chance to find your next flute, upgrade your kit or discover some new repertoire!

Location
The event will be held at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (RBC). The Conservatoire has maps and extensive info about getting to the venue on its website.

Schedule
The four competitive categories will run consecutively throughout the day across several spaces, and will be followed by a joint prize-giving at the end of the day and performances from the first-prize category winners.

Approximate timings are as follows:

School Performer category 11:30 - 5pm
Young Performer category: 10:15am - 3pm
Young Artist category: 10:30am - 5pm
Flute Ensemble category: 11am - 1pm
Lunch break: 1-2pm
Prize Giving and performances from winners: 5:15 - 6:30pm

Please note these timings are subject to change.

Book your free audience ticket to the Competitions 2025 below - and read on for more about the Competitions category, prizes, adjudicators and accompanists:

Competitions Overview & Rules

We have prepared a Guidance Document with all the information you need to understand the Competitions categories and what you can get out of the day, as well as the rules and the ins and outs of technical requirements. Download this below:

competitions guidance document (pdf)

Prizes

School Performer

1st Prize - William Bennett Prize of £500, and the opportunity to perform at a BFS event
2nd Prize - A Funky Flute Cases flute case
3rd Prize - A £50 cash prize

Young Performer

1st Prize - William Bennett Prize of £1000, and the opportunity to perform at a BFS event
2nd Prize - The ALRY Prize - a £300 cash prize
3rd Prize - €50 Furore Verlag voucher

Pearl Prize

Pearl PFP-105E piccolo - selected by the adjudication panel, this prize will be awarded to a competitor in the BFS 2025 Competitions Young Performer category.

Young Artist

1st Prize - William Bennett Prize of £2000, and a 45-minute performance at the Just Flutes Festival
2nd Prize - Wiseman traditional flute case of your choice, and the opportunity to perform at a BFS event
3rd Prize - The ALRY Prize - a £200 cash prize

Musician’s Answering Service Prize

One year’s free subscription to the Musician’s Answering Service. Selected by the adjudication panel, this prize will be awarded to a UK-based competitor in the Young Artist category. The Musician’s Answering Service is the leading UK diary service for orchestral and session musicians - find out more about them at https://maslink.co.uk.

Flute Ensemble

1st Prize - The BFS prize of £350 of support towards putting on a performance, and the opportunity to perform at a BFS event
2nd Prize - The Newmoon Insurance Prize - a £200 cash prize
3rd Prize - £50 Tetractys Publishing voucher

Atarah’s Legacy Fund Memorial Prize

Atarah’s Legacy Fund was established according to the wishes of Atarah Ben-Tovim MBE to support the musical education of entrants to the Competitions through the award of one cash prize for a candidate of sufficient merit, musical integrity, and potential. The Prize is an award of up to £500.

The recipient will not necessarily be one of the prize winners in the competition, and will be chosen by the competition adjudicators and BFS Council, where possible supported by members of the Fund Advisory Group. Musical integrity is something Atarah particularly wished to encourage, so the panel will be looking for a core musicality, rather than a display of virtuosity.

Entrants wishing to be considered can put themselves forward using the Prize entry form (which will be sent to all competitors once they have made their entry), indicating how they would use the Prize to further their musical education, for example through lessons, music courses or other educational activities. Winners will be required to write a report for Pan, the BFS journal, on the benefit they received from being awarded the Prize.

About the William Bennett Prize

The BFS are honoured to award the William Bennett Prize at the BFS Competitions for the second year. We are incredibly grateful to Michie Bennett for entrusting us with this legacy, which will enable us to award this prize for a number of years. As one of the founding members of the BFS, and our President for many years, we cannot think of a better way to commemorate Wibb’s extraordinary life and his profound impact on the flute world.

Adjudicators

Our brilliant adjudicators will judge the performance categories at the live event on February 23 2025. Everyone who performs will receive individual feedback from them - it’s a wonderful opportunity to learn from leading lights of the flute world.

Their experience spans the flute universe - be it playing in the new Wicked movie, recording for Billie Eilish and Hans Zimmer, exploring folk music, performing with top orchestras, or teaching at the Royal Academy of Music!

For full adjudicator bios, visit our judges page:

Learn more about the adjudicators

School Performer category

Catherine Handley
Catherine teaches at Cardiff University and was a tutor at the Young Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama for 20 years. She has a freelance career playing chamber music; recent orchestral work has been with the English Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra de Cymru and Ensemble Cymru, amongst others. She score-reads for televised concerts and has released a number of solo recordings.

Dr Julie Maisel
A flutist, educator and academic, Dr Julie Maisel is a lecturer in flute performance at the TU Dublin Conservatoire. An active soloist and avid chamber musician, she has presented concerts across Europe, performed with orchestras in the US and Ireland, and played at NFA Conventions. Her published output can be found in professional journals, and in 2018 she released her debut CD.

Young Performer category

Joss Campbell
Joss’ playing has taken her all over the world as soloist, orchestral and chamber musician, pit player and educator. Based in London, where her teaching is in great demand, she has recently published a series of flute warm-up books, enthusiastically received by players around the world. Joss studied at the Royal College of Music and the Guildhall and was principal flute with the European Youth Orchestra.

David Cuthbert
David’s varied freelance career has included playing Guest Principal Flute with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia and many others. He also deputises in the West End for the Lion King, Wicked and Les Miserables. He played on Gary Barlow’s No 1 album ‘Music Played by Humans’ and in the last 10 years has recorded for over 150 films, TV series, computer games and commercials, including Barbie, Paddington 3 & the new Wicked film. He is also a committed teacher who tutors at several schools.

Young Artist category

Laura Jellicoe
Laura is Principal Flute with the English Symphony Orchestra and plays as Guest 1st or 2nd flute with orchestras like The Hallé, BBC Symphony Orchestra and London Mozart Players. She has broadcast on radio and TV many times, and can be heard on a number of recordings. She previously taught at Chetham's School of Music and in 2021 became a Professor of Flute at the Royal Academy of Music. She also teaches flute and chamber music at the Royal Northern College of Music and runs the annual Grasmere Flute Retreat.

Rowland Sutherland
Rowland enjoys an international career in many fields of music, and plays and guests in jazz groups, new music ensembles, improvised music, symphony orchestras, non-Western groups, pop outfits, and as a soloist. He has collaborated with numerous esteemed Jazz and World Music artists, and recorded for pop artists and producers like Hans Zimmer, Billie Eilish, Incognito and George Benson. He’s played with many leading orchestras, and his acclaimed composition Enlightenment was featured at James Lavelle's Meltdown Festival. He lectures at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and tutors at Goldsmiths and the University of Southampton.

Flute Ensemble category

Carla Rees
Carla Rees has developed an international reputation for her innovative work and in 2021 was appointed the first Professor of Low Flutes and Contemporary Flute at the Royal Academy of Music. Her multi-faceted career encompasses performance, collaboration, recording, composing, arranging, editing and teaching. Carla leads rarescale Flute Academy, an acclaimed flute ensemble for university students, young professionals, and advanced amateurs, currently collaborating with a number of composers to create new repertoire.

László Rózsa
László Rózsa has a versatile career as a recorder player, researcher, and educator. He is a principal player with Scotland’s Dunedin Consort and a founding member of the chamber groups Ensemble 1604 and Scots Baroque, exploring new music, improvisation, and folk styles. As a researcher, his primary interest is the stage behaviour and interaction of performers in various musical cultures. In the autumn of 2023 he took up a lectureship and the position of Director of Performance at the University of Nottingham.

Accompanists

Richard Shaw

Pianist Richard Shaw enjoys giving concerts and broadcasting with a wide range of instrumentalists and singers. His many broadcasts for BBC Radio 3 include duo performances with violinists such as James Ehnes, Viviane Hagner, Leonidas Kavakos and So-Ock Kim, cellists Matthew Barley, Narek Hakhnazaryan, Richard Harwood and Li Wei, Nicholas Daniel (oboe), Martin Fröst (clarinet) and singers Nicole Cabelle, Jennifer Smith, Ailish Tynan, Alice Coote and Ruby Philogene.

He is staff accompanist at the Royal Academy of Music. He is currently writing a biography of the distinguished Russian mezzo soprano, Maria Karinskaya (1882-1942), following his discovery of an unknown 400-page Russian manuscript based on Karinskaya’s lost memoirs. His music album, Malcolm Arnold: Songs and Arias, is published by Novello & Co/Music Sales. Recent CDs for the Deux-Elles label include music by Phillipe Gaubert, with Kathryn Thomas (flute), the chamber works and piano solos of Sir Harrison Birtwistle, ‘Piper’s Dream’ (with Ensemble Lumière) featuring the piano solos and chamber works of Cecilia McDowall, and ‘Fauré and his circle’.

Joanne Sealey

Jo has become widely recognised in the UK as a specialist in woodwind and brass accompaniment and currently holds the position of Head of Accompaniment in Wind and Brass Studies at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, as well as being a Senior Tutor in Accompaniment and Coaching.

Jo accompanies regularly for the British Flute Society, Dublin Brass Week, National Youth Orchestra, and is the official pianist for Bromsgrove International Young Musicians Competition. Jo has had the pleasure of performing with many of the world’s leading players in their field including Phil Cobb, Rex Richardson, Peter Moore, Allen Vizzutti, Ian Bousfield, Zoltan Kiss, David Childs, Nicholas Daniel and Michael Collins.

Testimonials from past competitors

Attending the BFS competition for the first time was a thrilling experience. I was amazed by the performances of all the participants and I met so many new talented friends during the competition, who all share the same passion for the flute.

Despite feeling apprehensive, the supportive and friendly atmosphere put me at ease and allowed me to enjoy the day to the fullest. The BFS competition was a great experience that I will cherish and I am looking forward to attending again!
‘I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to take part in the BFS Young Performer Competition. The comments by the illustrious judges were so thoughtful. As the 1st Prize Winner, I was awarded an incredible piccolo, and we are now inseparable! I would definitely recommend participating to my peers.’
‘These fantastic competitions gave me such brilliant milestones to work for during my studies. It really boosted my confidence whenever I entered them - even when I didn’t win I got so much brilliant feedback, and then finally when I did win, it gave me so much more confidence - leading to my orchestral career’
‘It was a big confidence boost for me, as I’d never really seen myself as someone able to win a competition like this, so when I found out I’d won it was a huge shock! It helped me to feel a lot more confident about my playing, as well helping me to focus on the things I still need to work on.'
‘For anyone who is considering entering a competition, but doesn’t think they’re good enough or have enough experience, just go for it!
Being a runner-up has given me a whole new wave of confidence, both personally and musically, and this carries through into my playing. I still get nervous when I perform, but I just remind myself of this achievement and my nerves soon turn into excitement!'
It was great to see other people’s playing, and from that, I learned a lot more about what I might be able to do to improve my own playing.
Competing in the event was like a concert - there were so many amazing musicians, the music was excellent and I loved performing and being a part of it.
‘It was a joy to take part in a live competition at last and I was thrilled to be selected as the winner of the Young Performer category.
I've made some great new friends in the flute world and that's what it is about!
‘I won the Pearl Piccolo in this year’s BFS competition (2022). I watched the other Young Performers in my category and the standard of the playing was incredibly high so you can imagine how amazed and delighted I was to hear my name announced as the winner of the piccolo. Seeing all the performers and hearing new repertoire across the categories was really interesting. I also appreciated having the judges feedback.’
‘Winning the School Performer Category of the BFS competition meant so much to me; it was such an amazing experience and it was great to hear so many talented players - thank you to everyone who made this fantastic competition possible!’
I received very valuable feedback from many areas - everyone really liked the piece and my interpretation - and supportive guidance from the judges.

Volunteer

To help ensure the day runs smoothly we will need some help. If you would be willing to volunteer some time at the event, please get in touch by emailing competitions[at]bfs.org.uk.

FAQs

If you have a question that hasn’t been answered on this page or in the Competitions 2025 Guidance Document PDF, please contact competitions@bfs.org.uk
We will share the schedule for the day closer to the event; please note, the four categories will run consecutively throughout the day. We regret that it's not possible to choose your performance slot.
Please note that all competitors are required to attend the adjudication and prize giving at the end of their category and are expected to watch and support as many of the other competitors’ performances as possible around their own performance preparations. If this is not possible, please notify the BFS before the day of the competition by emailing competitions@bfs.org.uk.
We expect all under 18s to be accompanied by an adult; if you're having difficulties with this, please get in touch.

BFS Competitions 2025

23 February 2025
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire

The BFS’ flagship annual event, the Competitions are a chance for flute players to showcase their talent, receive feedback from top judges and win brilliant prizes.