Brighton sisters vie for Sussex Young Musician of the Year title

Berniya is 22 and currently studying at the Royal College of Music. She was born and brought up in Brighton having attended BHASVIC College. She has won numerous prizes and played in prestigious venues both here and internationally. She is founder of the Astatine Trio in which her sister Riya plays cello. The trio were youngest finalists in the acclaimed Lyon International Chamber Music Competition last year.

Riya is 19 from Brighton. Riya is currently studying at the Royal Academy of Music and was a pupil at BHASVIC. Riya was selected as one of the eight London Philharmonic Orchestra junior artists and has been a prize-winner in numerous competitions across the UK and played at the Royal Albert and Wigmore halls. She was principal cellist in the NYO’s concert at the Barbican (broadcast on Radio 3).

Tom is 23 and attended Windlesham House School and is in his fourth year at the Royal College of Music. He has performed solo roles in Messiah (Portsmouth Cathedral), Nelson Mass, Mozart Mass in C and Schubert Lieder (St John’s Smith Square). He has also covered operatic roles as well as some musical theatre with the acclaimed international RCM Opera Studio.

The Sussex Young Musician of the year competition offers young musicians (aged between 18-26) the chance to win cash prizes – £2,000 for the winner, £1,000 for the runner up and £500 for the third finalist to help fund their musical studies.

Catherine Kent, chair of Coro Nuovo said: “We received 29 applications to this year’s competition, and we are constantly amazed by such incredible, talented young musicians in Sussex. Congratulations to all the finalists and thank you to everyone who took time to enter the competition. At Coro Nuovo we recognise that a music career does not come easy, schools continue to scale back on the arts and lack of performance opportunities and costs are rising all the time. It’s so important that we encourage and support young people to stay in music rather than leave to pursue other professions.”

The final will be held on July 13 at 7pm at Holy Trinity Church, Hurstpierpoint, and the adjudicator will be pianist, conductor and coach Ashley Beauchamp. Coro Nuovo is a leading Sussex choir consisting of top singers from around the county. Its music director and conductor is Neil Matthews.

The Sussex Young Musician of the Year 2023 is Eliette Harris (violin). Brighton-born Eliette is captivating audiences with her remarkable violin skills. At the time of the competition she was on the Advanced String Orchestral programme at the Royal Northern College/Halle in Manchester.

Sussex Young Musician of the Year 2022 was Zoe Barnett. Zoe played classical guitar and at the time of the competition was studying at the Royal College of Music.