UK Young Theatre Organist of the Year (YTOY)
The 2024 YTOY will be held at The Musical Museum, 399 High St, Brentford, TW8 0DU on Sunday 4th August 2024 at 2.30pm.
Entries for both categories are now open, and must be submitted to the organiser, Michael Wooldridge, by 31st May 2024.
For full information on the competition please click here.
For the entry form click here.
2019 UK Competition
The competition took place on Sunday 17th March 2019 at The Musical Museum. We would like to thank The Musical Museum for kindly hosting the event, and Michael Wooldridge for once again organising the competition.
Congratulations to competition winner Lucy Griffiths, and runner up Lucy Crouch. In the seniors, Will Shaw was the winner, and for runner up the judges could not separate Matthew Geer and Jamyma Hanson.
The Christie Cup was awarded to Freya Vicarey, and the Dean Herrick Memorial Trophy went to Robert Eldridge.
You can view photographs and a report on the event here.
Competition History
Back in 1978 the London Chapter of ATOS set in motion the Young Theatre Organist of the Year Competition (YTOY), which over the years has given valuable performing and social experience to many aspiring organists. Some, including Janet Dowsett, Martin Harris, Michael Wooldridge, Richard Hills and Nicholas Martin are now well known to us all, but there are many more who have enjoyed and benefited hugely from the experience. Soon after, having seen the success of our UK event, our American colleagues launched the ATOS international Young Theatre Organist Competition.
Following the success of his successful teaching programme at Rye College, and much encouraged by American organist John Ledwon, Michael Wooldridge was keen to support youngsters from all around the country by promoting the YTOY, not only to encourage them to play and improve but also to make what we hope will be life long musical friendships, just as it was for him when he won it back in 1980!
Michael coordinated the relaunch of the event on Sunday 27th July 2014 at the Cinema Organ Society's magnificent 3/11 Compton Organ at Fentham Hall, Hampton-in-Arden near Solihull. Michael was supported by the rest of the ATOS committee, the Cinema Organ Society's team at Fentham Hall, Michael's Rye Wurlitzer Academy colleague Richard Moore and our three judges Len Rawle, David Lobban and Damon Willetts.
In 2017 we introduced a new ‘Seniors’ competition for organists aged 19 to 24. This is to complement the main YTOY competition and gives us the opportunity to continue to support these wonderful young stars of the future.
To see photo's of the more recent competitions please go to the Photo Gallery and, to read more about them, competition reports may also be found from the side menu of this page.
Awards
In addition to the competition prizes there are also two further awards.
The Dean Herrick Memorial Trophy is a large silver cup presented to one of the entrants from last years competition. Regardless of any trophy that may have been won previously, this award is made by the Chapter Committee in recognition of the person they consider to have made the most musical progress or who has made the greatest contribution to the theatre organ cause in the past 12 months.
The Christie Cup is a silver trophy awarded to any contestant in this years competition who, in the opinion of the judges, shows the most promise or potential. It way also be awarded for any other reason which the judges feel is relevant.
If you require further information about the UK Young Theatre Organist of the Year, please contact Michael Wooldridge at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
