Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus is pleased to announce the shortlist for the Stella Jockel Young Composers Competition 2024-25, part of Classical Sheffield Festival Weekend 2025.
The shortlisted young composers are Cerys Owen (21), Thomas Stearn (30), James Thomas (25), Reuben Tozer-Loft (23) and Cassie White (27). Cerys, Thomas and James are all music students at the University of Sheffield, Reuben was born and raised here and Cassie works as a video game composer on the outskirts of Sheffield. All the scores were anonymised before making them available to the three judges Darius Battiwalla, Ellie Slorach and Philip Wilby, to ensure the works would be judged on the merit of the composition alone. Our heartiest congratulations go to these shortlisted candidates!
“The high standard of entries is testament to the commitment shown by the local young composers who submitted their work for the competition” said Darius Battiwalla, Music Director of Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus, who headed the three-strong panel of judges, “The entries were varied in selection and interpretation of one or other of the texts and in musical style, but all display impressive adherence to the brief.’
Cerys Owen
Cerys is a 21 year-old final-year student pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Sheffield. Originally from Wrexham, North Wales, she is proficient in piano, organ and violin. Cerys has been a part of several ensembles, including Wrexham Symphony Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Wales, served as Vice-President of the Sheffield University Symphony Orchestra, and participated in various smaller chamber ensembles.
Cerys is building a portfolio of compositions under the supervision of Professor Dorothy Ker, studies piano under Benjamin Frith and is working towards a performance of pieces written by American composers. During her time at Sheffield, Cerys has widened her musical knowledge by studying modules in music technology, psychology and history.
Cerys spent last year abroad as an exchange student at Montana State University, USA, an experience which inspired her to compose a piano duo piece fusing the Welsh and American national anthems with her own melodies, culminating in a European premiere in Firth Hall, Sheffield. Whilst in the USA she developed an interest in scoring for film, a direction she hopes to pursue after graduation.
Alongside her studies, Cerys is an organ scholar at St John’s Church, Ranmoor where she is an active member of the choir and receives regular organ tuition. When not immersed in her studies or music-making, Cerys turns to hiking as a way of reconnecting with the world around her, often an inspiration for further compositions.
Thomas Stearn
Thomas Stearn is a 30 year-old composer of secular vocal music, currently based in Sheffield where he is pursuing a PhD in Vocal Composition at The University of Sheffield under the supervision of Professor Dorothy Ker and Professor Simon Keefe.
Before starting his research studies, Thomas completed an MMus degree in Choral Composition at the University of Aberdeen (2018), under the tutorage of Professor Paul Mealor and Professor Phillip Cooke.
Thomas sings bass and his past commitments include performances at the BBC Proms in 2018, as well as performances in various choirs across the UK and further abroad. He is currently a member of the University of Sheffield Chamber Choir, who premiered his first PhD composition, Stars, in 2022.
His music has also been performed by Sheffield-based Ensemble 360, part of Music in the Round, The Orlando Consort, and The University of Aberdeen Chamber Choir.
James Thomas
James is 25 and is currently studying for a PhD in instrumental composition, exploring temporal layering in musical structures under the supervision of Professor Dorothy Ker, supported by a University of Sheffield Arts and Humanities Research Scholarship.
He has composed for numerous world-leading ensembles including the Arditti Quartet, Hermes Experiment, Orlando Consort, Ensemble 360 and Ligeti Quartet. He is a London Symphony Orchestra Soundhub Associate and his recent compositional work includes a commission for clarinet and saxophone duo DOOT for premiere at the 2025 ICA Low Clarinet Festival in Arizona.
Before embarking on his current course James achieved a degree in Music and a postgraduate degree in Composition at the University of Sheffield, graduating with first class and distinction classifications. During this time, he studied under Dorothy Ker, George Nicholson, Lawrence Dunn and Amir Konjani, and was the recipient of the Julian Payne First Year Prize and Julian Payne Postgraduate Scholarship.
Alongside composing, James conducts the University of Sheffield’s New Music Ensemble, teaches composition to undergraduate students and performs as a guitarist in an experimental math rock band.
James was the joint-first prize winner in the Stella Jockel Young Composer Competition 2023.
Reuben Tozer-Loft
Reuben is 23 and was born and grew up in Sheffield, where early piano and violin lessons led to his membership of Sheffield Music Hub orchestra and later, Sheffield Youth Orchestra. He started to compose at an early age and wrote Snow for Ensemble 360’s wind quintet as part of their PowerPlus project, aged just 13, and composed numerous short works for piano and chamber groups while continuing to study music.
In 2022, Reuben graduated in music from the University of Birmingham (BMus), studying composition with Michael Zev Gordon and producing a portfolio of chamber music. Two of his choral anthems were performed by the choir at St Marks, Broomhill during his first year, and he arranged pop songs for an a capella group of which he was a member.
Since December 2023 Reuben has been living and working in Bologna, Italy as an English teacher while studying for a masters degree in composition at the Conservatorio di Musica, Bologna.
Reuben’s music is increasingly focussed on nature, particularly birds, for which he developed a fascination when his grandad gave him RSPB membership when he was young. As a result over the last few years he has written music featuring robins, geese, owls, and now curlews, pipits, and linnets!
Reuben was a fourth place runner up in the Stella Jockel Young Composer Competition 2023.
Cassie White
Cassie is 27 and works as a composer for a video games company on the outskirts of Sheffield. Her specialties include choral composition and composition for video games and other interactive media. Her work has been performed by ensembles including the BBC Singers and the ANIMA Ensemble, and programmed at events including Aldeburgh Music’s Friday Afternoons, the Oxford Lieder Festival, TORCH Women’s Spaces in Sound, Offbeat Festival, and more.
As a game composer, Cassie’s music has been heard in games such as Italic Pig’s Paleo Pines, Lightfox Games’ Rumble Club, Wargaming Group’s Cozy Islands, as well as upcoming titles such as Squid Rock Games’ Doodle Champs, Perfect Crime Games’ Parliament of Hell, and Sedleo’s 1348.
Cassie attended the University of Oxford in 2016-2020, where she studied Music at St Hilda’s College under Professor Martyn Harry, graduating with a first-class degree. She then studied for her Master’s Degree in Sound and Music for Interactive Games at Leeds Beckett University, under Richard Stevens and Dave Raybould, graduating with Merit in 2022.
Cassie currently sings with the Leeds Guild of Singers.
The competition
The competition is funded by a generous legacy left to Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus by ex-member Stella Jockel, a Sheffield teacher and vicar’s wife who died in 2020. Candidates had to compose a short choral work for a mixed choir to sing unaccompanied in at least four parts, using their choice of text from the two which were commissioned from award-winning poets Katharine Towers and Susie Wilson, both of whom are members of the Chorus. For more about the rules and to read the two beautiful poems, see Young Composer Competition 2024-25 announcement
The winners will be announced and the winning work sung for the first time at the final concert of the Classical Sheffield Weekend Festival on Sunday 23 March 2025 in St Marie’s cathedral, Sheffield. All five shortlisted candidates and their families will be guests at the concert of course.
The world premiere will follow three premiere performances of new works by composer Stephen Johnson, with Faure’s beautiful Requiem bringing the concert – and the festival – to a memorable close.
BUY TICKETS HERE for just £16 to find out who wins and to hear the winning work.
Tickets for other events in the fantastic three-day festival vary in price, with many free or just £5. See Classical Sheffield / Classical Weekend 2025
For information about the competition, rules, eligibility etc, see Young Composer Competition 2024-25 announcement
To read and hear the two poems: