Sussex Young Musician of the Year announced

The competition gave young musicians the chance to receive cash prizes to help support their music studies.

After two years of running the competition online, three finalists played live at Coro Nuovo’s Jubilee concert in Burgess Hill.

The finalists were judged by David Lawrence, one of the UK’s most versatile conductors.

Zoe played classical guitar in the competition and is currently studying at the Royal College of Music.

Zoe said: “I am delighted and thrilled to be given the title and the award which will help so much in my future studies at the Royal College.”

Laura Coppinger (soprano) from Cuckfield and studying at the Royal Scottish Conservatoire was selected as runner-up receiving a £500 prize.

Laurence Cuttriss (clarinet) from Burgess Hill will be studying in Germany shortly. He was also a finalist and received a £250 prize.

Catherine Kent, chairman of Coro Nuovo said: “Massive congratulations to all our finalists who are once again enjoying performing in front of live audiences. Coro Nuovo launched this competition seven years ago and the difficulty for young musicians taking up a professional music career has increased during this time. If we want to preserve high quality music for the next generation of audiences, we must invest in our young performers.”

The competition was sponsored by P&S Gallagher and My Sherpa Ltd.

Coro Nuovo is a leading Sussex choir consisting of top singers from around the county. Its music director and conductor Matthew Jelf.

As a not-for-profit choir, Coro Nuovo founded the Sussex Young Musician of the Year Awards in 2016 to support Sussex’s most talented young musicians aged 18-26 as they embark upon a professional career in music.

David Lawrence has conducted the London Philharmonic choir and holds the Guinness World Record for conducting the UK’s largest choir.

This year’s finalists were:

Zoe Barnett, 23, from Chichester. Zoe learnt to play classical guitar from her mother and has just made her Wigmore Hall debut.

She is currently studying at the Royal College of Music.

Laura Coppinger, 26, from Cuckfield and Storrington. Laura is a soprano specialising in classical and operatic recitals.

She is studying towards a postgraduate degree at the Royal Scottish Conservatoire.

Laurence Cuttriss, 24, from Burgess Hill. Laurence has been playing the clarinet from a very young age.

He frequently performs at concerts and recitals across Sussex and has recently graduated from Trinity Laban.

The concert was listed on the UK Government’s Platinum Jubilee website and is the only official Jubilee concert in the Mid Sussex area.

coronuovo.org.uk