2025 Summer School

Be inspired. Be empowered. Be creative!

NYJC’s 7-day Summer School, welcomes 45 of the nation’s most gifted and talented young jazz musicians aged 14-18, selected from NYJC’s 15-day national audition tour (all auditions and taster workshops are free to everyone).

Playing in five nine-piece ensembles, young jazz musicians have a unique, intensive opportunity to work with 10 top international jazz musicians, developing their skills in a warm and friendly environment. Our alumni have become friends for life and have gone on to amazing things!

Auditionees that aren’t yet ready for the main summer school will be offered places on other aspects of NYJC’s national programme including NYJC’s 4-day summer short course or a variety of regional activity.

We welcome players of all styles, traditions and instruments who are ready to extend their interactive improvisation and compositional skills – developing a professional level of ability and confidence through an exciting and eclectic programme of improvised music, supported by inspirational world class teaching artists.

All summer school/summer short course students are chosen via our audition process which is free to everyone.

Sign-up for an audition

How it works

Summer School

We offer 45 places on the 7-day Summer School to young musicians aged 14 –18.

Summer school students will be selected to play in one of five nine-piece combos guided by 10 of the nation’s leading teaching artists (all internationally renowned performers and / or composers!).

After learning a bespoke programme of repertoire by ear, (which is sent in a briefing email one month before the start of the course), you’ll enjoy an inspirationally creative and jam-packed week comprising of 18 combo sessions, daily musicianship classes, various masterclasses and seminars, an hour’s instrumental lesson, a 15-minute tutorial with NYJC’s Founding Artistic Director, Issie Barratt, and daily tutor-led evening jam sessions (each with a specific focus and theme).

All are designed to develop your ear and broaden your improvisation, composition, and spontaneous arranging and interactive skills.

At the end of the week all five combos perform in an awe-inspiring public concert which is professionally filmed and added to NYJC’s YouTube Channel! (this takes a couple of months to edit and mix and is released by early November).

Dates

Audition Tour: NYJC’s 15-day national audition tour will take place 29 March – 23 April 2025

Summer School: Sunday 10 August – Saturday 16 August 2025

Costs

The registration fee for the Summer School is £530*

This covers accommodation, food, and all teaching and activities throughout the week.

*Financial Help

We don’t want anyone to miss out because they cannot afford the fees. NYJC offers means-tested bursaries for those needing financial help. This can include covering the full costs of the course enrolment fee, and transport costs to both our free auditions and the summer school. Bursaries also cover the cost of an accompanying traveller for under 16s.

Apply for a bursary

Summer Short Course

We offer up to 48 places on the 4-day Summer Short Course to students aged 14 –18.

The Short Course is a feeder course that offers a similar experience to the Summer School. It’s designed to support those that demonstrated great talent but didn’t quite pass the audition and so would benefit greatly from an extra boost of jazz support before reauditioning for next year’s NYJC Summer School.

Find Out More

The Location

Benenden School in Kent

Benenden School, Cranbrook, Kent, TN17 4AA

Benenden School is an independent boarding school for girls in Kent, England. It is located in the beautiful Hemsted Park at Benenden in the Kent countryside, between Cranbrook and Tenterden.

In 2022, Benenden opened a brand-new state-of-the-art Music School, which also includes the highly impressive state-of-the-art Centenary Hall (capacity 750) designed by the multi award-winning Guy Hollaway Architects and offering state-of-the-art acoustics, which give audiences a truly amazing performance experience.

The Music School also features a smaller Recital Hall, with capacity for an audience of around 150 people, offering a performance space in a more intimate environment, perfect for rehearsals and smaller performances such as the nightly jam sessions and tutors’ concert. The Music School also has 20 practice rooms, five additional ensemble classrooms, a beautiful chapel and IT suite.

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There’s no way would I have applied to a conservatoire without NYJC. Nobody of my age in my area plays jazz. It’s massive to meet people my age who want to take it seriously. At my first NYJC course, I had no idea what a conservatoire was, and I didn’t think a music career would be a possibility” – Lara Hopper, Year 12 flugelhorn player, North Tyneside (Summer School 2024)

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NYJC really got me into jazz. I probably wouldn’t be anywhere near what I’m doing today without what I’ve got from here. It’s the best tuition you can get”

Alex Ridout

BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year 2016

The tutors are great musicians — no one judges your playing — so if you want to find others like you to play with, go for it.. .”

Timur Pak

Summer School 2016

Even though jazz can be a bit competitive it didn’t turn out that way – I met a lot of lovely new people and got great insights into the jazz scene”

Rosie Frater-Taylor

Summer School 2016

I’d done a lot of classical before, but here we all learned to blend and fit in with the jazz.”

Mishaal Mehmood

Summer School 2016

Fantastic atmosphere— the jamming in the evenings is so much fun, so inclusive, everyone just gets into it.”

William Pearce

Summer School 2016

NYJC has established itself as the primary means through which young, like-minded jazz players can meet to play and learn together. Their summer school and feeder regional programmes are an invaluable opportunity to experience the highest level of jazz education while forging significant and sometimes life-long musical peer partnerships.”