Norwich School French Horn player becomes full member of The National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain
October 24, 2025
Melissa Hawkings (U6) has become a full member of The National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. To celebrate her success, Mrs Fry sat down with her and asked her some questions.
Mrs Fry: Melissa, huge congratulations on becoming a full member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. You’re not completely new to this, are you? Can you tell me what your involvement has been in NYO so far?
Melissa Last year I was a residency guest so I took part in the spring in the summer concerts in the full horn section, including playing The Planets and Star Wars music at The Proms in the Royal Albert Hall, and the year before I was an associate member, which a nice introduction to NYO. One of the best concerts I played in was as an off stage horn in the Alpine Symphony conducted by Sir Mark Elder.
Mrs Fry: Wow! That’s not an opportunity that comes around too often! A whole new learning curve for playing in time. What will it mean to you now that you’re a full member? What will your annual commitment be?
Melissa: I’ll do three of the courses a year including the 14 day summer residency, four days of which is the concert tour. We might do some community work too, introducing instruments and music to young people.
Mrs Fry: How does a residency day look?
Melissa: We rehearse from 9am until 5pm with breaks and then again in the evening until 9pm. It’s a bit of a marathon! There is a rest day though. Sometimes we have full orchestra rehearsals, sometimes, full brass and sometimes horn sectionals.
Mrs Fry: Do you get to see the music in advance of the course?
Melissa: Yes, we get sent the music a month in advance so everyone turns up able to play everything. Because of this we can spend time on interpretation and really playing together which is what makes NYO so good.
Mrs Fry: Melissa, you don’t get to be an elite level musician playing at National level by accident. Tell me about your journey to NYO.
Melissa: When I was about 10 I went to an NYM (Norfolk Youth Music, now Guildhall Young Artists) Open Day days at CNS where you could try different instruments. I don’t know why I chose the horn. It just felt fun and was the most unusual. I wanted to be different so I chose it! I remember when I got home trying for ages to play a scale. I kept playing over and over again until I could play it. Then I took part in groups at school and when I felt more confident with my playing I joined the County Youth Wind Band. A little later I joined the Norfolk County Youth Orchestra where I was a member for 3 years. I think NCYO was actually really important for me because it’s how I got I to orchestral playing. I remember the first thing we did was Beethoven 5. It was really exciting. I was so nervous I was barely playing because everyone was older than me! I just kept doing it because I really liked the music. And then after that, I started going to Junior Guildhall in London on Saturdays which pushed me to the next level, playing with people from all over the country. The highlight of that for me was lots of chamber music playing. I’m now at Junior Royal College with a new teacher on Saturdays, leaving Norwich station at 0630 and returning home by 7pm or so.
Mrs Fry: Long day! We’ve spoken a lot about the orchestral side of things and the coaching that you get outside of your daily routine but what does it what’s required of you to get to your level as an individual? What do you do on a daily basis? Your fitness routine?
Melissa: Early in the morning, I have a half an hour warmup routine where I do different technical exercises just to make sure every aspect of my playing stays in shape: if you don’t use it, you lose it! Not every day is the same due to school commitments, but ideally I’ll do three hours practice. That’s what I did when I was preparing for the auditions: I like to do like an hour of technique, an hour on the excerpts and then an hour on my pieces. When I’m consistently doing three hours practice I notice such a difference in my playing - it’s like an athlete, you need constantly to be playing and being mindful of how you play - efficient and good practice is so important.
Mrs Fry: There must be pieces of music that is special to you or musicians that have inspired you?
Melissa: Right now, my favourite composer is Stravinsky. I loved playing Firebird at 14. I thought this is the most crazy, insane thing I’ve ever heard! The horn parts are amazing! That lead me into listening to The Rite of Spring and then I played Petrushka in NYO last spring at the Roundhouse in Camden. I also like Debussy and Ravel. The horn player who has inspired me is Sarah Willis, the 4th horn player in the Berlin Philharmonic. She’s not just a classical horn player - she’s recorded the Mozart horn concertos reimagined with Latin influences.
Mrs Fry: Sounds slightly different to the Norwich Baroque version coming up in March when you will perform one of the Mozart concertos in the Norwich School Choral Society concert!
Melissa: Yes! I also watched a masterclass with her where she made instant differences to peoples’ playing. I also really like Ben Goldscheider, a young horn player. We share the same teacher.
Mrs Fry: So, what next for Melissa Hawkings the horn player?
Melissa: I’m hoping to go to conservatoire next year. My dream career is to be an orchestral player but now I just want to see where it takes me - what kind of ensembles I might play in as I go through conservatoire and beyond.
Mrs Fry: Who knows, you could follow Sarah Willis’s trailblazing footsteps to the Berlin Phil. Good luck with it all.
If you have been inspired by Melissa’s musical journey and want to follow in her footsteps, here are some links to the local music groups she joined:
And tickets to NYO concerts are free for teens! Next up ‘Shimmer’ in January.
Details here: https://www.nyo.org.uk/performances/shimmer
Concert tour highlights - https://youtu.be/oVDFRtvPxsE?si=QqYITRq7GpjaBMp9
Jupiter in rehearsal - https://youtu.be/Hl2iTL4tnxk?si=UeWadansnIeV_x7e
