Making history in Abu Dhabi, the Young Musician of the Gulf (YMOG) competition, which originated at St Christopher's School in Bahrain in 1998, is setting the stage for unprecedented musical excellence.
YMOG continues to foster and showcase the extraordinary talents of young musicians across the Gulf region and is a beacon of musical brilliance.
This competition stands as a testament to the power of music to inspire, transform, and unite. For five exhilarating days, schools from across the region come together for intense musical rivalry, culminating in a crescendo of creativity and mastery.
Entries will only be accepted from and through schools who are members of BSME.
All communication between the Organisers and participants will be conducted via the participant’s school, not via a parent.
Every participant must be accompanied by a teacher from their school, not a parent.
The initial Google Entry Form is not a guarantee of entry.
The Organisers reserve the right to decline any entry which does not meet the required criteria.
Heads of Music are expected to retrieve all fee payments from students who wish to participate and complete a bank transfer to The British School Al Khubairat, BSAK on or before the deadline date – Monday 9th December 2024.
Schools who have not made full payment by the due date will be deemed to have withdrawn from the competition.
In the event of subsequent withdrawal, each person’s situation will be dealt with on a case by case basis.
Please note that the use of ABRSM and/or Trinity examination levels are point of reference. Entrants do not need to have passed any examinations.
It is recommended that entrants be at or around this level in order to compete on equal terms with their peers.
In the event of entrants offering different instruments from the below list, clarification should be sought from the Organisers.
All entrants should choose repertoire which reflects the high level of performance expected during this competition.
Entrants who wish to improvise may do so provided the stimulus is submitted for the benefit of the judges. General criteria of the type used to assess GCSE/GCE performances which feature improvisation will be applied.
Categories which may include improvisation include ethnic instruments where improvisation is intrinsic in the nature of the instrument, and any other instrument. Backing tracks are not permitted.
Participants from both the Instrumental and Vocal category will be selected to advance to the Second Round, Semi-Final and Grand Final within their respective categories at the Adjudicator's discretion.
The following table outlines the approximate percentage of entrants from each category who will advance through each round.
| Round 1 | Round 2 | Semi Final | Final | |
| Instrumentals | 100% | 70% of Round 1 | 30-40% of Round 2 | 5 Participants* |
| Vocalists | 100% | 70% of Round 1 | 30-40% of Round 2 | 1 Participant* |
● The Instrumental participants will compete against other instrumental competitors from across the musical spectrum.
● The Vocal participants will compete exclusively against other vocalists.
Test Pieces
The Organisers have decided that the repertoire that will be performed during Round Two of the BSME Young Musicians of the Gulf 2025 will be test pieces.
The selected piece for each instrument and vocal section can be found below.
Instrument | Test Piece 2025 |
| Alto Saxophone | ‘Grace’, 1st Movt, Light of Sothis; Amy Quate |
| Bass Trombone | Introduction and Allegro Spiritoso; Trombone and Piano; Jean Baptiste Senaillé |
| Bassoon | ‘Eo Rossa’, 3rd Movt, Five Sacred Trees; John Williams |
| Cello | ‘Lieder ohne Worte’, (Song without words) op. 109 in D major; Felix Mendelssohn |
| Clarinet | Elegie, BV 286; Furruccio Busoni |
| Cornet/Flugelhorn | ‘Rondo Burlesca’; Concertino for Flugel Horn and Brass Band; William Himes |
| Descant Recorder | The Kid from Venezuela; Peter Rose |
| Double Bass | 2nd movt; A Little Concerto for Double Bass; Jacob Largo |
| Eb Horn | ‘A Time for Peace’; Essence of time; Peter Graham |
| Euphonium | Introduction and Allegro Spiritoso; Euphonium and Piano; Jean Baptiste Senaillé |
| Flute | Moonlit Blue, Blaž Pucihar |
| French Horn | Canto Serioso for Horn and Piano; Carl Neilsen |
| Guitar | Un Dia de Noviembre; Leo Brouwer |
| Oboe | Elegia; Nino Rota |
| Piano | Nocturne, No.20 in C-Sharp Minor, Frédéric Chopin |
| Tenor Saxophone | Laguna Madre (With printed Cadenza); Amy Quate |
| Treble Recorder | Concerto; RV 444, Largo; Vivaldi |
| Trombone | Adam-Blues for Trombone and Piano; Joseph Horovitz |
| Trumpet | Badinage; Eugène Bozza |
| Tuba | Concerto for Tuba; Andante Sostenuto; Alexander Arutiunian |
| Tuned Percussion | ‘Asturias’; Suite Española; Isaac Albéniz |
| Untuned Percussion | Up Sticks; Clive Malabar |
| Viola | 1st Movt; Märchenbilder, Op. 113; Robert Schumann |
| Violin | 1st Movt; Sonata in E Minor, K. 304; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart |
| Vocal | Chanson d'Avril; Georges Bizet |
Repertoire must reflect the spirit and merit of the event.
For this reason, all instruments being played in an Ensemble should be acoustic.
For example, a Jazz Ensemble requires amplified or electronic instruments, then a maximum of two will be accepted (please inform the organisers beforehand).
Ensemble performances which utilise improvisation are required to be supported with an explanation of the stimulus for that improvisation.
The format of the Ensemble competition will be as follows:
| Initial Round | Semi Final | Final | |
| Small Ensemble | All Entrants | 2 Ensembles | 1 Ensemble |
| Large Ensemble | All Entrants | 2 Ensembles | 1 Ensemble |
| Small Vocal Ensemble | All Entrants | 2 Ensembles | 1 Ensemble |
| Large Vocal Ensemble | All Entrants | 2 Ensembles | 1 Ensemble |
Those Ensembles selected to advance to the Final will be the winners of their Ensemble category.
In the Final, they will compete to win the Overall Ensemble Award in the competition.
The Ensemble category consists of 4 individual categories:
Compositions will be judged on:
Entrants may also wish to include a detailed preface or brief, outlining their intentions, clarifying any directions within their score.
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Guy Johnston is one of the most exciting British cellists of his generation. His early successes include winning the BBC Young Musician of the Year, the Shell London Symphony Orchestra Gerald MacDonald Award, and a Young British Classical Performer Brit Award. He has performed with many leading international orchestras including the London Philharmonic, NHK Symphony Orchestra, and Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. Further performances include a BBC Prom with BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and concertos with The Hallé, Philharmonia Orchestra, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Most recently, he has been the featured soloist of Taverner’s ‘The Protecting Veil’ for Britten’s Sinfonia 2024 UK and Ireland tour. A prolific recording artist championing contemporary British composers, Guy’s recent releases include Dobrinka Tabakova’s Cello Concerto with The Hallé and Rebecca Dale’s ‘Night Seasons’ with the Philharmonia Orchestra. 2025 will bring forth Guy’s latest recording of Xiaogang Ye’s My Faraway Nanjing with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
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Nancy Litten studied at the Royal Academy of Music, London from age sixteen on an open piano scholarship. She began learning piano at six and violin at nine. At thirteen she joined the Kent County Youth Orchestra as a violinist, and also received an Arts Council award to study piano in London with Julius Isserlis. She has diplomas in four different instruments, including singing. She has taught for many decades: piano, electronic keyboard, violin, chamber music, singing, choirs, and musicianship. Several of her students have entered the music profession. Two string quartets she coached reached the finals of the UK’s Festival of Youth, and one represented Kent abroad.
As a performer, Nancy has played solo, chamber, and orchestral repertoire on both piano and violin, and is well known in Kent as a piano accompanist She has been an ABRSM examiner since 1998, and an adjudicator since 2014, serving for seven years on the adjudicators’ council of the British and International Federation of Festivals, including as vice chair. She has over 16 books published: violin tutors, keyboard tutors, books for singers, choirs and accompanists, trio arrangements of well-loved piano solos, and piano pieces. She composes for Alfred UK, EVC Music, and Clifton Press, and her arrangements and original pieces are in TCL and ABRSM syllabuses.
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Matthew Rose studied at the Curtis Institute of Music before becoming a member of the Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. In 2006 Matthew made an acclaimed debut at the Glyndebourne Festival as Bottom in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream – for which he received the John Christie Award– and he has since sung the role at La Scala, Covent Garden, Opéra National de Lyon, Houston Grand Opera and the Metropolitan Opera, New York. Matthew’s international career has seen him enjoy a close relationship with the Metropolitan Opera, for whom he gave his 100th performance in 2022. For The Met, Matthew has sung Filippo II and Monk Don Carlos, Raimondo Lucia di Lammermoor, Claudio Agrippina, Masetto and Leporello Don Giovanni, Oroveso Norma, Ashby La Fanciulla del West, Talbot Maria Stuarda, Bottom A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Night Watchman Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Frère Laurent Roméo et Juliette and Colline La bohème. In concert Matthew has appeared at the Edinburgh Festival, BBC Proms and the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York. His engagements include the London Symphony Orchestra with Sir Colin Davis, Daniel Harding and Michael Tilson Thomas, the Philadelphia Orchestra with Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the Los Angeles Philharmonic with Gustavo Dudamel, the Staatskapelle Dresden with Sir Charles Mackerras, the New York Philharmonic with Manfred Honeck, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia with Sir Antonio Pappano, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra with Kent Nagano, the London Philharmonic Orchestra with Vladimir Jurowski & Edward Gardner, the Boston Symphony Orchestra with Charles Dutoit, the BBC Symphony Orchestra with Sir Andrew Davis, Edward Gardner, Jiří Bělohlávek and Marc Minkowski, the Rotterdam Philharmonic with Richard Egarr, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin with Kent Nagano and the Wiener Konzerthaus with Pablo Heras-Casado. On the concert platform, Matthew sings Bruckner's Mass No. 3 with the SWR Symphonie orchester, Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and returns to Winterreise in performances across the United Kingdom.
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Col David Barringer joined the Army in September 1989 and studied at the Army Junior School of Music, Pirbright and Kneller Hall. He joined the Coldstream Guards Band in January 1993. From an early age he developed an interest in conducting. After winning the London heat of the 1998 Young Conductor of the Year Competition, he went on to be runner up at the National final and represented Great Britain at the inaugural European Conductor of the Year competition in 2000. David was selected for the Student Bandmaster course that summer. On promotion to Warrant Officer Class One in July 2003, was assigned as Bandmaster to the Lt Div Band. In June 2005 he moved to the AGC Band until January 2007 when he was posted to HQ DCAMUS where he was commissioned in post. Col Barringer was appointed as Director of Music, Royal Signals in January 2009 where he served until February 2012, returning then to HQ on promotion to Major. He attended the Intermediate Command and Staff Course at the Defence Academy in September 2014 and subsequently worked at Army HQ until his appointment as Director of Music Royal Regiment of Scotland in Feb 2017. He was awarded the MBE in the 2018 New Years Honours list for his work at Army HQ and was appointed as Director of Music, Welsh Guards in May 2018. Col Barringer returned to CAMUS HQ in the summer of 2019 and became the youngest ever Principal Director of Music (Army) in November, on promotion to Lieutenant Colonel. He served 3 successful years at the Corps HQ, overseeing the closure of Kneller Hall and the award of Royal status to the Corps. He took Command of the Bands of the Household Division in September 2022 and led the Regiment through arguably the most challenging, but certainly the most important, 18 months of its long and distinguished history encapsulating the State Funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth II and the Coronation of King Charles II. In recognition of service to the Monarch he was invested as a Member of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO) in June 2023. David was selected as Corps Colonel, The Royal Corps of Army Music in early 2024 and took up post on promotion in May. He is a devoted family man, married to Emma with whom he has two children, William and Evie.
Contact Number: +971 2 2040200 Music Department Ext 435
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.britishschool.sch.ae