JSO Award winner Filip Swoboda

Congratulations go to the JSO Award winner Filip Swoboda, tuba, second on the left below, who participated at the Young Musician of the Year competition.

Dr. Fiona Nelson who arbitrated the JSO award on behalf of the JSO said the following:

"As always, it was a pleasure and a real honour to have been asked to adjudicate the Jersey Symphony Orchestra prize during the Young Musician of the Year competition. All of the young musician finalists gave excellent performances and they should all be extremely proud of their achievements.

In choosing the JSO prizewinner there are a few things to consider. First of all, the performed instrument needs to be an orchestral instrument. I also need to consider the age of the competitor as musicians usually need to be at least 16 years old to join the orchestra. I also need to consider the technical ability, musicianship and performance skills of the competitor to ensure they are of a sufficiently high standard. This will then allow them to benefit from the opportunity to play alongside experienced orchestral musicians during JSO rehearsals and/or concerts and for their musical skills and orchestral experience to be nurtured.

In 2025 Oliver Hutton, winner of The Band of the Island of Jersey Percussion heat, was awarded the JSO prize and it has been great to have him playing with the orchestra since then. He was competing again this year, and it was wonderful to hear how his skills have developed over the last twelve months.

This year the JSO prize was awarded to Filip Swoboda, winner of the Jersey Premier Brass heat, for his performance on tuba. Filip provided an engaging performance with a varied programme. His first piece was Bizet’s ‘Chanson du Torreador’. He then performed Saint-Saen’s ‘The Swan’, which I have never heard performed on a tuba before! His final piece was ‘The Bass in the Ballroom’ by Newsome and Filip’s personality came shining through in his performance of this fun piece.

Although there is usually only one tuba player in an orchestra, I thought it would be a great opportunity for Filip to join the orchestra and be able to play orchestral repertoire alongside our regular tuba player. Hopefully having two tubas in the orchestra won’t make too much noise and drown out the sound of my own violin section!

I really hope Filip will enjoy the opportunity of playing with Jersey Symphony Orchestra and we certainly look forward to working with him.

Dr Fiona Nelson

03/03/2026"