Emily Hazrati is one of the Royal Opera House’s Fanfare Competition Winners

Sixteen year old Emily is one of twelve young composers aged between 11 and 16 have been selected as winners of this year’s Fanfare Competition. The 12 selected composers beat off stiff competition to win, as there were more than 170 entries from across the UK.


Emily plays at the Centre of Young Musicians

Emily told PutneySW15: 'It has honestly been one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had! I was lucky to work with some incredible musicians and am more excited than ever to be working with a leading British composer and have my fanfare recorded and performed by such a prestigious orchestra! I never want it to end!'

This is the sixth year that the Royal Opera House has run this competition for young composers, and by the end of May 2015, the Royal Opera House will have recorded more than sixty Front of House Fanfares as part of the Fanfare Competition.

The winning compositions have been selected by a panel of Royal Opera House professionals, including Music Director for The Royal Ballet Barry Wordsworth, composer Charlotte Bray and Music Director for The Royal Opera Antonio Pappano.

The full list of winners are:
Charlotte Wilson, aged 13, Stoneygate School, Leicester
Chris Wilkinson, aged 12, Hinchley Wood School, Esher
Emily Hazrati, aged 16, Putney High School, London
Emma Shaw, aged 14, Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar, Alford
Finlay Paul, aged 12 and Sam Hill, aged 12, Kingswood School, Bath
Frederick Renyard, aged 14, Wellington School, Somerset
Juliette Feest, aged 12, Ormiston Six Villages Academy, Chichester
Nathan Fuller, aged 12 and Elijah Denton, aged 12, Burgoyne Middle School, Bedfordshire
Oliver Wilshaw, aged 12, Woodland Middle School, Bedfordshire
Thomas Brook, aged 14, Queen Elizabeth's Grammar, Alford

The 12 composers will work closely with Duncan Chapman – who regularly works with many of the leading orchestras, ensembles and music organizations in Britain including the Philharmonia, London Sinfonietta, LSO, CBSO, BCMG, at the Royal Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall and Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, and for the BBC and Sonic Arts Network – and members of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House to arrange their fanfares through a series of workshops.


Music Director for The Royal Opera Antonio Pappano and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House will record final versions of the fanfares on 25 April 2015 in the Main Stage orchestra pit. Instead of the traditional bell, these fanfares will be played to Main House audiences in our Front of House spaces before performances and during intervals to encourage them to take their seats. The Royal Opera House schedules different recorded fanfares for each production given by The Royal Opera or The Royal Ballet.

All of this year’s winners will be invited to a performance of The Royal Ballet’s mixed programme Afternoon of a Faun / In the Night / Song of the Earth on Saturday 30 May, where they will hear their fanfares played to audience members for the first time.

The competition, which is for young musicians aged 11 to 16, offers the chance for schoolchildren to have their music arranged, recorded and then played to audience members before and during the intervals of performances at the Royal Opera House. The competition has a significant geographical reach, and aims to encourage young people to develop their composition skills through working with the internationally acclaimed musicians at the Royal Opera House. This year, composers were asked to compose fanfares in celebration of our Music Director for The Royal Opera, Antonio Pappano. Antonio Pappano has conducted every fanfare recorded as part of the competition since its inception in 2009.

Since its inception the Fanfare Competition has gone from strength to strength. Earlier in the Season, The Royal Opera also offered three youth ensembles of 14 to 21-year-olds from Camden schools and the Roundhouse the opportunity to work with composer Duncan Chapman to develop fanfares inspired by Monteverdi, which were played before each performance of our new production of Orfeo, which opened at the Roundhouse in January. Sydney Opera House have also held their own version of the competition inspired by the Royal Opera House’s competition, in association with creative arts organization Artology and the Australian Youth Orchestra.

March 5, 2015