Auditioning for NCO

Auditions will be open from Thursday 15th May to the deadline on 9am Thursday 31st July 2025.

Whether you’re new to NCO or you’ve been a member before, we would love to receive your audition. Everyone auditions afresh each year.

We are interested to hear from all young musicians, whatever their background, schooling or circumstances. We are particularly keen to increase applications from young musicians who are currently underrepresented in classical music and to increase the number of children from state schools.

We are here for any questions you may have. If we can support you by providing this information in an alternative format or by giving you additional information relevant to you and your child personally, please let us know by emailing our Auditions team at auditions@nco.org.uk.

If you audition for NCO 2026 you either take part in two Orchestral weeks or two Orchestral weekends in 2026.

When you submit your audition you can choose to audition for Orchestral weeks or for Orchestral weekends or to be considered for either opportunity. You can read more about each option on our dedicated pages via the button below.

NCO provides the highest quality in-person orchestral coaching with incredible tutors, guest artists and conductors. Young musicians also expand and enrich their musical learning through online events and resources including tutor videos, guest artist webinars and opportunities to build wellbeing skills and be creative.

For the children who are members of NCO there are lots of opportunities:

  • to be part of one of seven fantastic NCO orchestras
  • to develop their playing and musicality
  • to celebrate the joy of making music with others
  • to make lifelong friends
  • to work with incredible tutors, artists and conductors
  • to discover their creativity
  • to play a varied repertoire of music which is both challenging and fun, including themed programmes and creative activity
  • to learn vital physical and mental wellbeing skills
  • to find their voices and be heard
Orchestral weeks & weekends

Spring Orchestral Weeks 2026

For those aged 11 as of 31st August 2025 (Under 12 Orchestra):
Sun 5th April – Sat 11th April 2026 residential at Shrewsbury School and final concert at Shrewsbury School

For those aged 12 as of 31st August 2025 (Under 13 Orchestra):
Sun 29th March – Sun 5th April 2026 residential at Sherborne Girls’ School, Dorset and final concert at Bristol Beacon

For those aged 13 as of 31st August 2025 (Under 14 Orchestra):
Sun 5th April – Sun 12th April 2026 residential at Sherborne Girls’ School, Dorset and final concert at Bristol Beacon

Summer Orchestral Weeks 2026

For those aged 11 as of 31st August 2025 (Under 12 Orchestra):
Sun 2nd August – Sat 8th August 2026 residential at Sherborne Girls’ School, Dorset and final concert at Portsmouth Guildhall

For those aged 12 as of 31st August 2025 (Under 13 Orchestra):
Sun 26th July – Sun 2nd August 2026 residential at Sherborne Girls’ School, Dorset and final concert at Bristol Beacon

For those aged 13 as of 31st August 2025 (Under 14 Orchestra):
Sat 25th July – Sat 1st August 2026 residential at Shrewsbury School and final concert at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall

Winter weekend 2026

For those aged 13 as of 31st August 2025 (Under 14 Orchestra) there will be an additional non-residential weekend culminating in a public concert, in November 2026.

Spring Orchestral weekends

NCO London Orchestras Sat 7th & Sun 8th March 2026 Venues tbc

NCO North Orchestra Sat 28th February & Sun 1st March 2026 at Bolton School

NCO Midlands Orchestra Sat 28th February & Sun 1st March 2026 at Ruddock Performing Arts, Birmingham

Summer Orchestral weekends

NCO London Orchestras Sat 6th & Sun 7th June 2026 Venues tbc

NCO North Orchestra Sat 13th & Sun 14th June 2026 Venue Bolton or Manchester tbc

NCO Midlands Orchestra Sat 13th & Sun 14th June 2026 at Ruddock Performing Arts, Birmingham

Orchestral weekends are non-residential so accommodation is not provided between the Saturday and the Sunday.

Who can join?

Everyone auditions for a place in our auditioned orchestras each year – players who have been an NCO Member previously and players who are new to NCO, including those who may never have played in an orchestra before. This makes it fair for all young musicians interested in joining NCO.

It is free to audition, and auditions are submitted via a pre-recorded video.

We welcome auditions for NCO 2026 from young musicians who:

  • Are aged 8-13 years old (as of 31st August 2025) and
  • Play an orchestral instrument to the appropriate standard and
  • Are British citizens or are living/studying in the UK (please check with us if you are unsure)

Orchestral instruments are considered to be:
Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, French Horn, Cornet, Trumpet, Trombone, Tuba, Percussion, Harp, Violin, Viola, Cello or Double Bass

Depending on your child’s age and playing experience, they will be eligible to audition for our residential Orchestral weeks, our non-residential Orchestral weekends, or to be considered for either.

Orchestral weeks
They are not available for this age range.

Orchestral weekends
Grade 3+ for: Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, French Horn, Cornet, Trumpet, Trombone, Tuba, Percussion (check instrument notes), Lever/Pedal Harp, Viola, Double Bass
Grade 4+ for: Flute, Violin, Cello
Audition requirement – two pieces via video audition.

Orchestral weeks
Grades 4 – 8+
Audition requirement – two pieces via video audition plus orchestral excerpts if you play violin or cello.

Orchestral weekends
Grade 3+ for: Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, French Horn, Cornet, Trumpet, Trombone, Tuba, Percussion (check instrument notes), Lever/Pedal Harp, Viola, Double Bass
Grade 4+ for: Flute, Violin, Cello
Audition requirement – two pieces via video audition.

Orchestral weeks
Grades 5 – 8+
Audition requirement – two pieces via video audition plus orchestral excerpts if you play violin or cello.

Orchestral weekends
Grade 3+ for: Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, French Horn, Cornet, Trumpet, Trombone, Tuba, Percussion (check instrument notes), Lever/Pedal Harp, Viola, Double Bass
Grade 4+ for: Flute, Violin, Cello
Audition requirement – two pieces via video audition.

Orchestral weeks
Grades 6 – 8+
Audition requirement – two pieces via video audition plus orchestral excerpts if you play violin or cello.

Orchestral weekends
Grade 3+ for: Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, French Horn, Cornet, Trumpet, Trombone, Tuba, Percussion (check instrument notes), Lever/Pedal Harp, Viola, Double Bass
Grade 4+ for: Flute, Violin, Cello
Audition requirement – two pieces via video audition.

What does it cost?

To take part in NCO’s Orchestral weeks or weekends there are membership fees as outlined below.

You can also read details of our financial support programme, which helps ensure everyone who is offered a place has the opportunity to take part.

Orchestral weeks

The membership fee to take part in two Orchestral weeks in 2026 is:

  • Under 12 and Under 13 Orchestras (those aged 11 or 12 as of 31st August 2025) £2100
  • Under 14 Orchestra (those aged 13 as of 31st August 2025) £2300

Orchestral weekends

The membership fee to take part in two Orchestral weekends in 2026 is:

  • £400

The true cost to NCO of providing a place in an NCO orchestra is more than double the fees above. NCO subsidises activities to keep fees as low as possible and works hard each year to raise the funds which cover the balance.

Our aim is that money doesn’t create a barrier to a child hoping to take part in our activities. We want any young musician, no matter their background or circumstance, to have the opportunity to accept their offer of a place in NCO. It is possible to have all or part of your child’s fees paid for you through our Financial Support programme.

NCO prioritises financial support for families:

  • Where the child is in state education and/or
  • Who are entirely based in the UK, with working parent/s (including single parents and/or those who are also receiving benefits to supplement their employment income, unless they are unable to do so on medical grounds/another exceptional reason).

NCO support is means-tested so once your child has been offered a place, we ask for a range of information and supporting documents from those who would like to make an application for support.

For Orchestral weeks,
NCO will consider providing financial support on a sliding scale (25% – 100%) to families with a gross household income less than c. £80,000.

For Orchestral weekends,
NCO will consider providing financial support (100% or 50%) to families with a gross household income less than c. £60,000. For Orchestral Weekends only, NCO will also prioritise families who are living a considerable distance from where activity is taking place, as well as being on a lower income.

We will ask you for some information about:

  • Your finances, including your gross annual income, dividends and company ownership, pension/s, savings and property ownership and any benefits or grants you receive
  • Where your child goes to school, including whether they are receiving any bursaries or scholarships or are eligible for Free School Meals or Pupil Premium
  • Your other dependants
  • Whether you have applied for grants from other sources e.g. charities or your local authority (we recommend this)
  • Any other circumstances which will affect your capacity to pay your child’s membership fees

As a charity, NCO raises funds to provide financial support to young musicians each year. In a normal year, our Financial support programme has the capacity to support around 10-15% of our members, depending on the level of funding we have raised. There is no guarantee we will be able to offer support for every application we receive, even if you’ve received support from us before. We recommend that you apply to other funding sources alongisde your NCO Financial support application as we are expecting significant demand for support.

If you have any questions about Financial support that you would like to ask before your child auditions for NCO, please email financialsupport@nco.org.uk and we will be happy to help.

Notes for specific instruments

Below is a list of instruments with a few extra specific details that you’ll need to consider so that young musicians will be comfortable and confident taking part.

Please note, if your child would like to audition on more than one instrument, please complete a separate application form for each instrument, with entirely separate audition recordings. Should your child be offered a place, a membership offer will only be given for one instrument in one orchestra.

To take part in our residential orchestral weeks, bassoonists need to play bassoons in C, not transposing tenoroons or mini bassoons (in F or G). You can still audition for the orchestral weeks on a tenoroon/mini bassoon as long as you are happy to commit to playing a full-size bassoon from February 2026.

Bassoonists can apply to take part in our non-residential orchestral weekends on a tenoroon, mini bassoon or bassoon.

Cellists auditioning to take part in our residential orchestral weeks should be able to read the tenor clef fluently.

Cellists auditioning to take part in our non-residential orchestral weekends should have some familiarity with tenor clef.

If you are aged 11-13 on 31st August 2025 and are auditioning for the residential Orchestral weeks, you will need to record orchestral excerpts as well as your main pieces. This is because we have higher numbers of applications from violinists and cellists, and excerpts help us with the selection process. You’ll find out more about excerpts on the How to Audition pages.

Cornet players are welcome to audition for our non-residential orchestral weekends but its not possible to audition on cornet for our residential orchestral weeks.

If you’re auditioning on French horn for our residential orchestral weeks, it’s worth being aware that you may need to do some transposition as part of your playing at NCO. We prefer older players to have some familiarity with transposition and you may need to ask your teacher for help with F and E flat in preparation for NCO activity, but it’s not essential for your audition.

If you are a harpist auditioning for the residential orchestral weeks you need to be playing on a pedal harp.

If you are a harpist auditioning for the non-residential orchestral weekends, you can be playing on a lever harp or a pedal harps and it’s OK if you change from lever to pedal between your audition and the first NCO activity.

Percussionists auditioning should be able to read musical notation.

We ask percussionists auditioning for the residential orchestral weeks to prepare two contrasting pieces on different orchestral percussion instruments – one piece on a tuned instrument and one on a snare drum.

Percussionists auditioning for the non-residential orchestral weekends can perform on two different orchestral instruments or can prepare one piece on drum kit and one on snare/another orchestral percussion instrument.
If you would like to talk to us about this before preparing your pieces, please email auditions@nco.org.uk

We realise that percussionists may have to film their auditions in different spaces to access all of the instruments required or may have to move the camera or instruments into different positions to get yourself and the instruments in full view. Because of these logistics, we allow percussionists only to edit together different videos, or press pause in between pieces to rearrange your instruments and set-up or move locations. If you would like to talk to us about any of the above, including difficulty accessing a space or instruments to record your audition please don’t hesitate to contact us at auditions@nco.org.uk

Trombonists auditioning for the residential orchestral weeks should be able to read tenor clef fluently.
Trombonists auditioning for the non-residential orchestral weekends can audition whether they read bass or treble clef.

You can audition on Tenor or Bass Trombone.

Tuba players auditioning for the residential orchestral weeks, should be able to read bass clef fluently.
Tuba players auditioning for the non-residential orchestral weeks can audition whether they read bass or treble clef.

Trumpeters may come across transposition at NCO; it is a good idea to practise some parts in A and C with your teacher.

If you are aged 11-13 on 31st August 2025 and are auditioning for the residential Orchestral weeks, you will need to record orchestral excerpts as well as your main pieces. This is because we have higher numbers of applications from violinists and cellists, and excerpts help us with the selection process. You’ll find out more about excerpts on the How to Audition pages.

Viola players auditioning for the residential orchestral weeks should be able to read the treble clef fluently.
For viola players auditioning for non-residential orchestral weekends, we prefer them to have some familiarity with treble clef.

How to audition

You can find the step by step auditions process on our How to audition page, via the button below.

How to audition