The 2026 competition was held at 7.00pm at St John’s Church, St John’s, Woking on 7th February

The adjudicator was the eminent oboist, Richard Watkins.

Solo performers invited on the basis of their performance in Woking  Music Festival had an opportunity to compete in concert conditions at the  annual Woking Young Musician 2026 event at St John’s Church in St John’s, Woking.

The  Mayor of Woking, Cllr Amanda Boote was in attendance and we were treated to some truly excecllent musical performances.

In a packed church,  the audience was captivated with solo performances from the Young Musician competitors as well as the other outstanding award winners including: Junior Musicians of the Year (Youer Chen and Anaiyah Kashim), Most Promising Young Singer of the Year (Chloe Ayres), Most Promising Young Actor Award (Annabel Drummond) and the Chamber Music Award (St Catherine’s Martinu Quartet).

The evening concluded with the following prizes awarded:

First prize of £400 and Gordon Brown Trophy: Anxo Garcia

Second prize of £325 and Yorkshire Building Society Trophy: Beatrice Tsang

Third prize of £250 and the H R Taylor Charitable Trust Trophy: Morwenna Rees

All other competitors Yash Saran, Jason Fan, Elizabeth Chwu and Jerry Liu each received a cash prize of £125.

The festival’s summer school bursary was awarded to Jerry Liu.

We thank the Mayor of Woking Cllr Amanda Boote for presenting the awards as well as our sponsors and friends of the festival for all their ongoing support to enable the evening to be such a tremendous success, especially Handel Pianos for arranging the load of the Bechstein grand piano.

Well done and many congratulations to our prize winners of the evening.

Photographs taken during the evening can be ordered online  from Anthony Gurr’s site