BBC Young Musician 2024, the long-running biennial competition that celebrates the UK’s most promising classical music performers, has named its three finalists:
- Violinist Shlomi Shahaf (17), born in Israel and raised in Ukraine, currently studying at the Purcell School
- Pianist Ryan Wang (16) from Vancouver Canada, and currently studying on a music scholarship at Eton College
- Pianist Jacky Zhang (16) from Surrey, a piano and composition student at the Royal College of Music
The three BBC Young Musician 2024 finalists were chosen during a Semi Final featuring six musicians. Held at The Great Hall, Swansea University in July, two Quarter Finals featuring 12 musicians and the Semi Final this year replaced the instrument category finals of previous years. This shakeup to the format was designed to encourage entrants from all over the UK.
BBC Young Musician 2024 finalists… When is the Grand Final broadcast?
Introduced by saxophonist and broadcaster Jess Gillam, this year’s Grand Final took place at Bristol Beacon on 24 September. The Final will be broadcast at 6.30pm (BST) on Sunday 20 October on BBC Two and iPlayer, during which the winner will be announced. This special programme will include highlights of the three concerto performances with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and conductor Ben Gernon.
The full concert programme, meanwhile, will air on BBC Four and iPlayer on the same date at 11pm.
BBC Radio 3 and BBC Sounds have featured highlights of the Quarter Finals and Semi Final on ‘Classical Live’ since 20 September. The Grand Final will be broadcast in full on Sunday 20 October at 5.25pm.
Judging this year’s competition are: trumpeter Alison Balsom, pianist and composer Alexis Ffrench, and multi-instrumentalist and broadcaster Hannah Catherine Jones.
Who are the past winners of BBC Young Musician?
Previous Young Musician winners and alumni include Sheku Kanneh-Mason (2016), saxophonist Jess Gillam (2016), violinist Nicola Benedetti (2004), pianist Benjamin Grosvenor (2004), cellist Laura van der Heijden (2012) and pianist Martin James Bartlett (2014).
The 2022 BBC Young Musician winner was percussionist Jordan Ashman.