BBC Young Musician

BBC Young Musician returns to BBC Four for a new series of highlights programmes showcasing the best young performers from across the UK. Over the next five weeks, 25 talented musicians compete in the keyboard, woodwind, brass, percussion and string finals. The winners of each will secure a place in the semi-finals, which will be broadcast later in 2020 together with full coverage of the grand final. Presented by organist and conductor Anna Lapwood, the category finals were filmed in March at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. The series begins with the keyboard final, and to cast his expert eye over each performance Anna is joined by Leon McCawley, one of the UK’s foremost pianists and professor of piano at the Royal Academy of Music. The keyboard finalists are 16-year-old Sejin Yoon, Bridget Yee, who is 15, Thomas Luke, who is 16, Harvey Lin aged 17 and Jacky Zhang, the youngest of this year’s category finalists at just 11. They perform music by some of the giants of the keyboard repertoire – Bach, Scarlatti, Beethoven and Rachmaninov. Tasked with choosing a category winner is a panel of leading experts: Russian pianist Katya Apekisheva, co-artistic director of the London Piano Festival; Peter Donohoe, one of the UK’s most distinguished concert pianists; and Angela Dixon, chief executive of award-winning performance venue Saffron Hall. Angela chairs all of the category final judging panels throughout the series. As part of this year’s coverage, saxophonist Jess Gillam, herself a BBC Young Musician finalist, presents a series of conversations with some of the country’s most inspiring musicians. In this first programme, Jess speaks with Lauren Zhang to see what life has been like for her since winning the competition in 2018.

Organist and conductor Anna Lapwood presents highlights of the second of the BBC Young Musician 2020 category finals, which sees five of the UK’s best young performers compete for the Woodwind title. The winner will take their place in one of the BBC Young Musician semi-finals, which will be shown later in 2020 along with the grand final. Joining Anna to review each of the performers is principal flautist with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Katherine Bryan, who is also in demand as a soloist. The woodwind finalists are 16-year-old flautist Daisy Noton, 18-year-old clarinettist Marian Bozhidarov, Ewan Millar, who is also 18 and plays the oboe, recorder player Eliza Haskins, aged 16, and 18-year-old bassoonist Alice Gore. The repertoire performed includes works by Vivaldi, Tchaikovsky, Messiaen and contemporary British composer Peter Facer. On the jury for this evening’s final are two prominent British woodwind musicians. They are Amy Harman, principal bassoonist with the Aurora Orchestra and English National Opera and much in demand both as a soloist and as a chamber musician, and internationally acclaimed recorder player, Piers Adams, who has toured the world with leading orchestras as well as his baroque quartet Red Priest. They join the chair of all the BBC Young Musician 2020 category final judging panels, Angela Dixon. Angela is the chief executive of the award-winning performance venue, Saffron Hall. Also in the programme, Jess Gillam, saxophonist, broadcaster and former BBC Young Musician Finalist, continues her series of conversations with leading UK musicians. Tonight she speaks to oboist Nicholas Daniel, who won this competition back in 1980 and who, like Jess, is a passionate supporter of music in education. Each of the category final concerts is also available to watch in full on the BBC iPlayer, presented by Josie d’Arby.

Two places in the BBC Young Musician 2020 semi-final have already been decided. This week it’s the turn of the brass players to impress as organist and conductor Anna Lapwood presents highlights of the Brass Final. Filmed at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, Anna is joined by one of the world’s leading euphonium players, David Childs, to review each performance. Saxophonist and music evangelist Jess Gillam returns with the next in her series of conversations. In this programme, she meets up with her fellow 2016 BBC Young Musician finalist, French horn player, Ben Goldscheider. Competing in this closely matched category final are 18-year-old French horn player Joseph Longstaff from Hertfordshire, trombonist Meggie Murphy, who is 19 and from Cardiff, 18-year-old tuba player William Burton from Sheffield, also on French horn, 17-year-old Annemarie Federle from Cambridge, and also aged 17, trombonist Rhydian Tiddy from Ammanford, South Wales. The programme includes profiles of each of the competitors together with highlights of their performances. An expert panel of judges is tasked with choosing a winner to represent the brass category in the semi-final. They are trombonist Peter Moore, winner of BBC Young Musician in 2008 when he was just 12 years old, Katy Woolley, principal horn with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, and chair of all the category final judging panels, Angela Dixon, chief executive of the award-winning performance venue, Saffron Hall. The complete brass final can be seen in full on BBC iPlayer, hosted by Josie d’Arby.

It is the turn of five percussion soloists to dazzle with their exceptional technique and musicality as we reach the penultimate category final in the series. Organist and conductor Anna Lapwood is joined by former percussion winner Owen Gunnell to review the performances, recorded in the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama before the coronavirus lockdown. The percussion finalists are 16-year-old Lewis Kentaro Isaacs, 18-year-old Isaac Harari, Toril Azzalini-Machecler, also aged 18, Fang Zhang, who is 16, and 17-year-old Alexander Pullen. Repertoire includes works by John Psathas, Sergei Golovko, Georges Aperghis, Astor Piazzolla and Jago Thornton. On the jury are two of the UK’s most respected percussionists: Simone Rebello, director of percussion at the Royal Northern College of Music, an internationally acclaimed soloist and founding member of percussion quartet BackBeat, and Julian Warburton, professor of percussion at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, also a renowned soloist, collaborator and conductor. They join the chair of all the BBC Young Musician 2020 category final judging panels, Angela Dixon, chief executive of the award-winning performance venue Saffron Hall. Also in the programme, Jess Gillam, saxophonist, broadcaster and former BBC Young Musician finalist, continues her series of conversations with leading UK musicians. She speaks to percussionist Lucy Landymore, who won the percussion final in 2010 and has gone on to enjoy a successful career, including performing in film composer Hans Zimmer’s orchestra on tour. Each of the category final concerts is available to watch in full on the BBC iPlayer, presented by Josie d’Arby.

With just one place in this year’s semi-final left to play for, the focus is on strings with three violinists, a cellist and a harpist competing in the last of the BBC Young Musician 2020 category finals. Organist and conductor Anna Lapwood introduces highlights of the strings final, which was filmed at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff before the lockdown. Anna is joined by acclaimed British violinist Matthew Trusler to review each of the performances. The competitors are violinists Mio Takahashi, Ilai Avni and Coco Tomita, who are all 18, cellist Ellen Baumring-Gledhill, who is also 18, and 17-year-old harpist Huw Boucher. They perform works by composers including Debussy, Saint-Saëns and Kreisler. To win the category and progress to the semi-final, they will need to impress an expert jury. Internationally acclaimed violinist Fenella Humphreys and harpist Stephen Fitzpatrick, whose career has seen him perform with some of the world’s leading orchestras, join Angela Dixon, chief executive of Saffron Hall and chair of this year’s judging panels. Saxophonist Jess Gillam returns to profile one of the UK’s most important institutions for young musicians - the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. The winner from this strings final will join the winners from the keyboard, woodwind, brass and percussion categories as they take their place in the competition’s semi-final, due to be broadcast later in the year together with the grand final. As well as the highlights programmes on BBC Four, you can watch all of the category finals in full on the BBC iPlayer, presented by Josie d’Arby.