2025/2026
Instrumental
58th National Concerto Competition
The 2025/2026 National Concerto Competition is open to all instrumentalists aged 25 years and under. Entries will open on Monday 14th July 2025 and close on Friday 10th October 2025 at 5.00 p.m. NO LATE ENTRIES WILL BE ACCEPTED.

The venue for the preliminaries and semi-final is The Piano, 156 Armagh Street, Christchurch. Rehearsals will begin on Monday 1st December 2025 and possibly go through to Tuesday 2nd December 2025 (morning only), The preliminary section of the competition will begin on Tuesday 2nd (afternoon and evening only), Wednesday 3rd December 2025 and Thursday 4th December 2025 (morning only). The semi-final is Thursday 4th December 2025 at 7.00 p.m.

The final will be held on Saturday 7th March 2026, 7.00 p.m. in the Douglas Lilburn Auditorium, Christchurch Town Hall. Finalists will perform with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra conducted by James Judd.

The adjudicators for the 2025/2026 National Concerto Competition are:
Mark Walton is a highly respected and popular figure in the Australian and New Zealand musical scene and widely acknowledged as a virtuoso clarinet and saxophone performer, and inspiring teacher.

Wilma Smith has had a long and celebrated orchestral career as Concertmaster of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and then the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Currently, Wilma is Second Violinist of the Flinders Quartet, curator/violinist of her own chamber music series, Wilma & Friends, and Musica Viva Australia’s Artistic Director of Competitions, overseeing the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition and Strike A Chord, the Australian national chamber music competition for school-aged students.

Discover the full list of previous winners of the Competition in our archive.
The Adjudicators
Mark Walton
Virtuoso Clarinetist & Saxophonist and inspiring teacher
Wilma Smith
Former Concertmaster of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra