17 year-old Alexandra Ridout has reached the BBC Young Musician Jazz Award final, the UK’s leading contest for young jazz musicians.

Following an extensive audition process, judges have announced the five musicians who will go through to the final, which will take place on Saturday 12 March 2016 in the Dora Stoutzker Hall, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Cardiff.  Alexandra will be competing alongside her brother Tom, who also won a place in the final.

Following its successful launch in 2014, the BBC Young Musician Jazz Award runs alongside the established classical music format and aims to showcase another group of exceptional young musicians to audiences across the UK. The Jazz award consists of two audition stages and the final, which will be broadcast on BBC Four.
In the final the five finalists will once again be accompanied by the Gwilym Simcock Trio, who will also be working with and mentoring the finalists as they rehearse.

In 2014, two Purcell School pupils reached the final, and you can watch clips of their performances here:
Jake Labazzi (trumpet) 
Sean Payne (saxophone)

Alexandra Ridout (trumpet) joined The Purcell School in 2015 and studies both Jazz and Classical trumpet with Steve Waterman and Tony Cross respectively, she also studies jazz piano and voice.  Alex is supported by the Government Music and Dance Scheme, the SD Whitehead Trust, The Junior Academy and Awards for Young Musicians.  She is a member of the Junior Jazz Department at The Royal Academy of Music and the National Youth Jazz Collective.  She was recently selected as one of two UK 16-19 year-olds to attend the Brubeck Institute Summer Jazz Colony in Stockton, California.