South African cellist Nicola McLachlan receives the senior division first prize of ZAR 40,000 (£1,800)
The final round of this year’s UCT Strings Competition took place on 11 September at the University of Cape Town’s Baxter Concert Hall in Cape Town, South Africa. Six finalists across the junior and senior divisions performed public recitals before a jury comprising conductor Bernhard Gueller, violinist Petrus Coetzee and pianist François du Toit.
In the junior division for high school string players, the first prize of ZAR 15,000 (£680) was awarded to 16-year-old cellist Rebecca Gray. Violinist Matthew Lamprecht and cellists Meya Cordewener and Misha van der Merwe were named runners-up, each receiving ZAR 10,000 (£450). Cordewener also won the ZAR 5,000 (£230) special prize for the best performance of a South African work.
In the senior division, for string players up to the age of 28, the first prize of ZAR 40,000 (£1,800) was won by cellist Nicola McLachlan. Violinists Emma Henshall and Helen Liu were named runners-up, each receiving ZAR 20,000 (£900).
The senior division special prize of ZAR 5,000 (£230) for the best performance of a South African work, was awarded to violist Micaela Arries, along with a ZAR 7,500 (£340) jury award. A second jury award of ZAR 7,500 was also given to cellist Trygve Nissen, and the 2026 Strings Awards went to violinist Bernadette Goemans, Arries and Nissen.
Gray is a Grade 10 learner at Rustenburg Girls’ High School and studies cello with Graham du Plessis. In 2025, Gray won the Strings Category at the National Youth Music Competition. She is also an active chamber musician, winning her category at the 2025 Stellenbosch University National Ensemble Competition as part of the Pluck and Struck Duo. She has performed as a soloist with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, Cape Town Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and Hugo Lambrechts Symphony Orchestra.
Based in Frankfurt, Germany, McLachlan has developed a career as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral cellist, performing across South Africa, the UK and Germany. She has received prizes and scholarships including the Deutschlandstipendium, the Fine Music Radio Bursary Award and the UCT Strings Competition, and has appeared as a soloist with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra.
McLachlan is currently completing a master’s degree in chamber music at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt with Tim Vogler, and is an academist with the Staatsorchester Kassel. She previously studied at the University of Cape Town with Graham du Plessis and at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover.
The UCT Strings Competition, hosted by the South African College of Music at the University of Cape Town, was first launched in 2022. This year, the competition expanded to a national platform, opening its doors to string players from across South Africa.
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