By Steve Wright

Published: Wednesday, 28 September 2022 at 12:00 am


BBC Young Musician, the renowned UK talent contest for young classical performers, returns to BBC Four, Radio 3, iPlayer and Sounds this October for its 23rd instalment.

The biennial competition has been celebrating up-and-coming musical talents from across the UK for five decades. During that time, it has launched the careers of performers including Nicola Benedetti, Mark Simpson and Sheku Kanneh-Mason.

The 2022 BBC Young Music Category Finals were recorded in early July at Saffron Hall in Saffron Walden, Essex. They follow the format that has served the competition so well, presenting some of the best  young performers in the fields of brass, keyboard, percussion, strings and woodwind.

The panel of judges for the Category Finals was chaired by Anna Lapwood, organist, broadcaster and director of music at Pembroke College. Category judges for this year’s competition included violinist Jennifer Pike, clarinettist Emma Johnson, horn player and BBC Young Musician 2016 Grand Finalist Ben Goldscheider, and percussionist Paul Philbert.