Audition for NCO 2026

At NCO, our purpose is to champion the life-changing power of music. This year almost 2000 children aged 8-14 connected with National Children’s Orchestras through:

• auditioned Orchestral Weeks and Weekends,
• non-auditioned Orchestral Days
• activities with schools, music education hubs and other partner organisations
• free tickets to concerts

We are interested to hear from all young musicians, whatever their background, schooling or circumstances. We are particularly keen to increase representation in our orchestras from groups currently under-represented in classical music and to increase the number of children from state schools.

All auditioned NCO activities include world class in-person orchestral coaching with incredible tutors, guest artists and conductors, as well as access to our online activities and resources. We welcome auditions for NCO 2026 from young musicians who:

• are aged 8-13 years old (as of 31^st August 2025)
• play an orchestral instrument to the appropriate standard and
• are British citizens or are living/studying in the UK

Did you know?

• Children do not need to have taken any formal grade exams to be part of NCO, because offers of membership are based on their playing and musicality in their audition video.
• It is free to audition, and auditions are submitted via a pre-recorded video.
• If a family needs help with any stage of the auditions process, our friendly team are here to help and guide in whatever way we can.

Find out more about NCO and how to audition on our website: https://www.nco.org.uk/join-in/auditioning-for-nco or email auditions@nco.org.uk with any questions you may have. If you would like to know more about our expanding range of free, non-auditioned activities (partnerships with Music Hubs, Schools concerts and open access projects) please get in touch with me directly.

Play together. Be unstoppable.