BBC Young Musician is a televised national

music competition A music competition is a public event designed to identify and award outstanding musical ensembles, solo (music), soloists, composers, conducting, conductors and musicologists. Pop music competitions are music competitions which are held to find p ...

broadcast biennially on

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

and

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also featuring. The sta ...

. Originally BBC Young Musician of the Year, its name was changed in 2010. The competition, a former member of the European Union of Music Competitions for Youth (EMCY), is open to UK-resident

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Mu ...

, string,

brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other wi ...

and

woodwind Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and re ...

players, who are eighteen years of age or under on 1 January in the relevant year.

History

The competition was established in 1978 by Humphrey Burton, Walter Todds and Roy Tipping, former members of the BBC Television Music Department. Michael Hext, a

trombonist The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

, was the inaugural winner. In 1994, the percussion category was added, alongside the existing keyboard, string, brass and woodwind categories. The competition has five stages: regional auditions, category auditions, category finals, semi-finals and the final. The biennial competition is managed and produced by

BBC Cymru Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, BBC Cymru Wales is b ...

. To date, there have been 22 winners, the youngest being 12-year-old Peter Moore. In 2014, the BBC Young Musician Jazz Award was introduced; Alexander Bone, a

saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pro ...

, was the inaugural winner. As a result of the success of the competition, the

Eurovision Young Musicians The Eurovision Young Musicians (), often shortened to EYM, or Young Musicians, is a biennial classical music competition for European musicians that are aged between 12 and 21. It is organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and broadcast ...

competition was initiated in

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C ...

. The first edition was broadcast live from Manchester's Free Trade Hall. The presenter was Humphrey Burton and the producer was Roy Tipping. The winner of BBC Young Musician often went on to represent the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Young Musicians. The competition celebrated its 30th anniversary in May 2008 with a documentary narrated by Gethin Jones on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

. BBC Four's documentary ''BBC Young Musician: Forty Years Young'' was aired on 3 April 2018. To celebrate the 40th anniversary, the first BBC Young Musician Prom was held at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

and broadcast live on 15 July 2018. Presented by

Clemency Burton-Hill Clemency Margaret Greatrex Burton-Hill (born 1981) is an English broadcaster, author, novelist, journalist and violinist. In her early career she also worked as an actress. In January 2020 she suffered an AVM brain haemorrhage and underwent eme ...

, the concert featured performances from past winners and finalists alongside the

BBC Concert Orchestra The BBC Concert Orchestra is a British concert orchestra based in London, one of the British Broadcasting Corporation's five radio orchestras. With around fifty players, it is the only one of the five BBC orchestras which is not a full-scale sym ...

conducted by

Andrew Gourlay Andrew Gourlay (born 1982) is a British conductor. Born in Jamaica, Gourlay was subsequently raised in the Bahamas, the Philippines, Japan and the United Kingdom. He is of Russian ancestry.''Andrew Gourlay'' in ''Scherzo'' no.348, February 201 ...

. The 2020 competition was affected by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, after proceeding as normal up to and including the filming of the semi-final. The five category finals were broadcast in May and June 2020, with broadcast of the semi-final and recording of the final postponed, at first until the autumn, and then into 2021. The Jazz Award final was broadcast as planned on 22 November 2020, having been recorded at

Cadogan Hall Cadogan Hall is a 950-seat capacity concert hall in Sloane Terrace in Chelsea in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England. The resident music ensemble at Cadogan Hall is the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO), the first L ...

in the absence of an audience. The grand final was recorded in April 2021 – also without an audience – and broadcast on 2 May, preceded on 30 April by the delayed broadcast of the semi-final. The 2022 contest was deferred from spring to early autumn and was broadcast in October; the semi-final stage of the competition (introduced in 2010) was discontinued.

Broadcast

Regional heats were televised in 1978; a round before the category final was aired until 1994, and again in 2002 and 2004. From 1978 to 1984, all programmes were broadcast on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

until it was moved to

in 1986; however from 2002 to 2012, the heats were moved to

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

, with only the final aired on BBC Two. In 2010, highlights of the new semi-final stage were also broadcast on BBC Two. In 2014, all stages of the competition moved to BBC Four, and the category finals and the grand final were broadcast on

. For the 2018 competition, Radio 3 broadcast a 30-minute concert starring each competitor in the week before their category final aired.

Hosts

The following have hosted stages of the competition:

Classical Award

* Humphrey Burton (1978–1992) *

Ernest Lush Ernest Lush (23 January 190812 May 1988) was an English classical pianist who was best known as an accompanist. Biography Ernest Henry Lush was born in Bournemouth in 1908. His musical studies were with Tobias Matthay in London and Carl Friedber ...

(1978) * Jane Glover (1986, 1988) * J Mervyn Williams (1990) *

Edward Gregson Edward Gregson (born 23 July 1945) is an English composer of instrumental and choral music, particularly for brass and wind bands and ensembles, as well as music for the theatre, film, and television. He was also principal of the Royal Northern ...

(1990 final) * Paul Daniel (1992 final) *

Sarah Greene Elizabeth Sarah Greene (born 24 October 1957) is an English television presenter and actress. She co-presented ''Blue Peter'' from May 1980 until June 1983, and hosted the Saturday-morning series '' Saturday Superstore'' and ''Going Live!''. E ...

(1994) * Christopher Warren-Green (1996) * Sarah Walker (1996) * Stephanie Hughes (1998–2004) *

Alistair Appleton Alistair Appleton (born 12 February 1970) is a British broadcaster, psychotherapist and meditation teacher. Biography Born in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, to Peter and Sally (née Cooper) Appleton, the younger of two sons, Alistair was brough ...

(2004) *

Howard Goodall Howard Lindsay Goodall (; born 26 May 1958) is an English composer of musicals, choral music and music for television. He also presents music-based programmes for television and radio, for which he has won many awards. In May 2008, he was na ...

(2006, 2010 final) * Gethin Jones (2008) *

Aled Jones Aled Jones, (born 29 December 1970) is a Welsh singer and radio and television presenter. As a teenage chorister, he reached widespread fame during the mid-1980s. Since then he has worked in television with the BBC and ITV, and radio (for ...

(2008) * Nicola Loud (2008) *

(2010–12, 2014 final, 2016, 2018 final) * Josie D'Arby (2012, 2016 final, 2018, 2020, 2022 final) * Alison Balsom (2014, 2016, 2018 final) *

Miloš Karadaglić Miloš Karadaglić (Serbian Cyrillic: Милош Карадаглић, born 23 April 1983), sometimes known just by his mononym Miloš, is a classical guitarist and Deutsche Grammophon/ Mercury Classics recording artist from Montenegro. Biograph ...

(2014) *

Anna Lapwood Anna Lapwood (born 28 July 1995) is an organist, conductor and television and radio presenter, currently Director of Music at and Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge. On appointment she was the youngest person to hold the position of Director ...

(2020) * Jess Gillam (2020 final, 2022) * Alexis Ffrench (2022)

Jazz Award

* Josie D'Arby (2014, 2016, 2018) * Soweto Kinch (2014) * Joe Stilgoe (2016) * YolanDa Brown (2018, 2020) * Jamz Supernova (2022) *

Huw Stephens Huw Meredydd Stephens (born 25 May 1981) is a Welsh radio and television presenter, currently broadcasting on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 6 Music. Stephens founded the Sŵn music festival with John Rostron and the yearly s ...

(2022)

Related awards

BBC Young Dancer

competitive dance Competitive dance is a popular, widespread sport in which competitors perform dances in any of several permitted dance styles—such as acro, ballet, contemporary, jazz, hip-hop, lyrical, modern, musical theatre, tap, and improv—before a ...

version,

BBC Young Dancer BBC Young Dancer is a televised national dance competition, broadcast on BBC Four and BBC Two since 2015. The competition, inspired by the success of the biennal BBC Young Musician of the Year, is designed for British amateur dancers of ballet, ...

, was launched in October 2014 and first awarded in May 2015.

BBC Young Jazz Musician

A separate competition for a Jazz Award was first held during the 2014 season, with the final broadcast on BBC Four in the week after the classical final. In 2016, the Jazz Award final was episode 7 of the 8-part BBC Four series, broadcast two days before the classical final. In 2018, the jazz competition had an upper age limit of 21 and the final was recorded for BBC Four in November as part of the

London Jazz Festival The London Jazz Festival is a music festival held every November. It takes place in London venues such as the Barbican and the Royal Festival Hall and in smaller jazz clubs, such as Ronnie Scott's and the Vortex Jazz Club. It is produced by Ser ...

; it was broadcast on 25 November, six months after the main final.

Winners

Classical Award

Jazz Award

Past finalists

;Key

1970s

1978

1980s

1980

1982

1984

1986

1988

1990s

1990

1992

1994

1996

1998

2000s

2000

2002

2004

Finals for the 2004 competition took place on 2 May at the Usher Hall,

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

and were televised on

. The trophy used for this year's competition was designed by

John Rocha John Rocha CBE (born 23 August 1953) is a Chinese-Irish designer born in Hong Kong. He is based in Ireland. Biography He moved to Ireland after graduating from the Croydon School of Art, London. Known for his hand-crafting, beading and appliqu ...

Waterford Crystal Waterford Crystal is a manufacturer of lead glass or "crystal", especially in cut glass, named after the city of Waterford, Ireland. In January 2009, the main Waterford Crystal manufacturing base on the edge of Waterford was closed due to the ...

2006

The 2006 finals were held at

The Sage Gateshead Sage Gateshead is a concert venue and musical education centre in Gateshead on the south side of the River Tyne in North East England. Opened in 2004 and occupied by North Music Trust it is part of the Gateshead Quays development which include ...

on 20 May 2006. The adjudicators for this competition were

Marin Alsop Marin Alsop ( �mɛər.ɪn ˈæːl.sɑːp born October 16, 1956) is an American conductor, the first woman to win the Koussevitzky Prize for conducting and the first conductor to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. She is music director laureate ...

, Carlos Bonell, Peter Sadlo, Thea King, Sergei Nakariakov,

Angela Hewitt Angela Hewitt, (born July 26, 1958) is a Canadian classical pianist. She is best known for her Bach interpretations. Career Hewitt was born in Ottawa, Ontario, daughter of the Yorkshire-born Godfrey Hewitt (thus she also has British nationality ...

and Kathryn McDowell. The overall number of finalists was significantly smaller for this competition.

2008

The 2008 finals took place at the

Wales Millennium Centre Wales Millennium Centre ( cy, Canolfan Mileniwm Cymru) is an arts centre located in the Cardiff Bay area of Cardiff, Wales. The site covers a total area of . Phase 1 of the building was opened during the weekend of the 26–28 November 2004 an ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...

on 10 and 11 May 2008. In celebration of thirty years of the competition broadcasting, the performances lasted for two days.

2010s

2010

2012

2014

=Classical Award

=Jazz Award

2016

=Classical Award

=Jazz Award

2018

=Classical Award

= The 2018 finals were held at the

Symphony Hall, Birmingham Symphony Hall is a 2,262 seat concert venue in Birmingham, England. It was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 12 June 1991, although it had been in use since 15 April 1991. It is home to the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and hos ...

, on 13 May 2018. The judges were

Kerry Andrew Kerry Andrew (born 5 April 1978) is an English composer, performer and author. She has a PhD in Composition from the University of York and is the winner of four British Composer Awards. Her debut novel, ''Swansong'', was published by Vintage ...

(chair), Alpesh Chauhan, Natalie Clein,

John Harle John Harle (born 20 September 1956) is an English saxophonist, composer, educator and record producer. He is an Ivor Novello Award winner and has been the recipient of two Royal Television Society awards. Biography Harle was born in Newcastl ...

and Sunwook Kim.

=Jazz Award

2020s

2020–21

=Classical Award

=Jazz Award

2022

=Classical Award

=Jazz Award

Footnotes

:A. : Extended information used where available.

References

;General * ;Specific

External links

*
European Union of Music Competitions for Youth
{{DEFAULTSORT:BBC Young Musician of the Year British biennial events Music competitions in the United Kingdom BBC Cymru Wales television shows British television specials BBC Radio 3 programmes Young Musician Classical music television series Youth music competitions Awards established in 1978 Early career awards 1978 establishments in the United Kingdom Music television specials