BBC Young Musician of the Year: Semi-Final

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BBC Young Musician

Performances & Events

Music: Classical

Showcasing the classical stars of the future in the UK’s most prestigious musical prize.

Showcasing the classical stars of the future in the UK’s most prestigious musical prize. Who will follow in the footsteps of some of the greatest names in music?

2020

BBC Four

Anna Lapwood

Tim Rhys-Evans

Josie d'Arby

Jess Gillam

Paul Bullock

Martyn Stevens

Anwen Rees

Sian Parry

BBC Young Musician: 2020: Semi-Final

Semi-Final

BBC Four - BBC Young Musician, 2020, Semi-Final

The winners of the five category finals compete for just three places in the grand final.

The search reaches its penultimate stage as the category winners from the strings, percussion, woodwind, brass and keyboard finals compete for the three places in the grand final.

The 2020 edition of BBC Young Musician remained incomplete when we left it last spring. Tonight the story resumes with extensive highlights of the semi-final, which was filmed at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama just days before the first UK-wide lockdown back in March last year. The semi-final sees the winners of the keyboard, strings, brass, woodwind and percussion finals compete for the three coveted places in the grand final. 

Organist and conductor Anna Lapwood is our guide to proceedings. She is joined by Tim Rhys-Evans, director of music at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, who provides insight and analysis. Josie d’Arby also joins the line-up with interviews with the semi-finalists and Jess Gillam continues her series of conversations discussing the changing face of classical music with visionary conductor Nicholas Collon.

As always, the five talented performers provide a tough challenge for the judges. 

The semi-finalists are: 
Fang Zhang, winner of the percussion final, oboist Ewan Millar, winner of the woodwind final, Annemarie Federle, who won the brass final on French horn, winner of the keyboard final, pianist Thomas Luke, and violinist Coco Tomita, who won the strings final.

Making the all-important decisions are:  
Lisa Tregale, director of the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales, Chi-chi Nwanoku, acclaimed double bassist and founder, artistic and executive director of the Chineke! Foundation, John Hardy, award-winning composer and head of composition at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and Angela Dixon, chief executive of performance space Saffron Hall and chair of the judging panel for BBC Young Musician 2020.

The semi-final was filmed at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in March 2020 before the national lockdown.

BBC Young Musician: 2020

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The UK's best young musicians compete to win the coveted title of BBC Young Musician 2020.

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