The 25 finalists for BBC Young Musician 2014 have been announced ahead of the category finalis that will take place in March at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff.
The competition manager, Kerry Clark, said: ‘The category finalists show a remarkable level and breadth of talent. We’re looking forward to continuing to work with these outstanding young musicians over the coming months and watching their progress through to the 2014 final.’
The finalists in each category are:
Strings: William Dutton (18) – violin Anna Im (16) – violin Elizaveta Tyun (18) – violin Roberto Ruisi (17) – violin Juliana Myslov (17) - harp
Keyboard: Martin Bartlett (17) - piano Ning Hui See (17) – piano Hayley Parkes (18) - piano Julian Trevelyan (15) - piano Isata Kanneh-Mason (17) - piano
Woodwind: Hannah Foster (17) - flute Daniel Shao (18) - flute Jessika Gillam (15) - saxophone Nick Seymour (17) - saxophone Sophie Westbrooke (15) - recorder
Brass: Ellena Newton (14) - trombone Isobel Daws (14) - trombone Matilda Lloyd (18) - trumpet Lewis Bettles (18) - trombone William Thomas (13) – trumpet
Percussion: Matthew Farthing (17) Elliott Gaston-Ross (15) Jess Wood (16) Tom Highnam (17) Stefan Beckett (18)
The category finals will take place 3-7 March 2014 in the Dora Stoutzker Hall at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Cardiff. This will be followed by the semi-final on 9 March before the final of the competition at Usher Hall in Edinburgh on 18 May.
For the first time, this year’s competition will include a jazz category, for which finalists will be announced in February. The jazz final will take place on 8 March at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
Violinist Nicola Benedetti (pictured above), who won the competition in 2004, takes on an ambassadorial role for BBC Young Musician this year.
The competition will be covered on BBC Four and Radio 3. For more information, visit the BBC Young Musician website.