Eurovision Young Musicians 2008 was the 14th edition of Eurovision Young Musicians. It consisted of two semi-finals on 4 and 5 May, held at Theater an der Wien, and a final on 9 May 2008, held at the Rathausplatz in Vienna, Austria, and presented by and . It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF). The Vienna Symphony Orchestra conducted by Aleksandar Marković accompanied all competing performers. This was the second time that the competition was held on an open-air stage and was the beginning of the annual Vienna Festival. ORF had previously hosted the contest in Austria in , , and .

Musicians representing sixteen countries took part in the competition, with seven of them participating in the televised final. Serbia (as an independent country) and Ukraine made their début while Germany returned. Five countries decided not to participate, they were Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, and Switzerland, while Serbia and Montenegro had ceased to exist since 2006.

The winner was clarinetist representing Greece, with pianist Roope Gröndahl representing Finland placing second, and violinist Eldbjørg Hemsing representing Norway placing third. Grammenos is the first woodwind player to win the competition (previous winners have played piano, violin, or cello). A new feature in 2008 was the audience prize, voted for by television viewers in the host country via SMS. Hemsing was the winner of this public vote.

Location

Rathausplatz, a square outside the Wiener Rathaus city hall of Vienna, was the host location for the 2008 edition of the Eurovision Young Musicians final. The Theater an der Wien, a theatre in Vienna, Austria, hosted the semi-final round.

Format and were the hosts of the 2008 contest. The interval act was Angelika Kirchschlager performing "One Life to Live" alone and "We Dream Together" with the Vienna Boys' Choir.

Participants and results Semi-final A total of sixteen countries took part in the semi-final round of the 2008 contest, of which seven qualified to the televised grand final.

Part 1 (4 May) Country Broadcaster Performer Instrument Piece(s) 1 HRT Marin Maras Violin 1) Sonata in c minor (Largo-Allegro moderato) (Francesco Geminiani)2) Scherzino (Franjo Krežma)3) Zigeunerweisen, op.20 (Pablo de Sarasate) 2 BBC Philip Achille Harmonica 1) Little Suite (James Moody) 3 ORF Sol Daniel Kim Cello 1) 1st Movement of the Sonata for Arpeggione and Piano (Franz Schubert)2) Variations on a Theme by Rossini (Niccolò Paganini) 4 NTU Anna Fedorova Piano 1) Sonata, Op. 57, I mv. (Ludwig van Beethoven)2) Trois Valses Opus 70 N1 (Frédéric Chopin)3) Trois Valses Opus 34 N3 (Frédéric Chopin) 5 WDR Kathy Kang Violin 1) Sonata for violin and piano, 2. sentence - Allegro (César Franck)2) Paganiniana (Nathan Milstein) 6 SVT Maria Verbaite Piano 1) Sonate in C-Dur Hob. XVI:50 (Joseph Haydn)2) Piano Study in Mixed Accents (Ruth Crawford Seeger)3) Islamey: Oriental Fantasy (Mily Balakirev) 7 TVR Stefan Besan Violin 1) The Strolling Fiddler for Violin solo, from the Suite (George Enescu)2) Impressions from childhood in D Major Op.28 (George Enescu)3) Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso in A Minor, Op.28 for Violin and Piano (Camille Saint-Saëns)4) Miniature for Violin and Piano (Gheorghe Neaga) 8 ERT Clarinet 1) Three Pieces for Clarinet solo (Igor Stravinsky)2) Rigoletto Fantasia Di Concerto (Alamiro Giampieri)

Part 2 (5 May) Country Broadcaster Performer Instrument Piece 9 Yle Roope Gröndahl Piano 1) Bagatelle G-Moll, Op. 119, No. 1 (Ludwig van Beethoven)2) Piano Sonata Op. 1 (Alban Berg)3) Toccata (Maurice Ravel) 10 NPS Steven Bourne Cello 1) Sonata for Cello and Piano (Claude Debussy) 11 RTVSLO Jan Gricar Saxophone 1) Fantasie sur un theme original (Jules Demersseman)2) Aria and Improvisation (Blaž Pucihar) 12 NRK Eldbjørg Hemsing Violin 1) Tzigane (rapsodie de Concert) (Maurice Ravel)2) Subito for violin and piano (Witold Lutosławski) 13 RTS Mina Zakić Cello 1) Impromptu G-Dur, Op.90 (Franz Schubert)2) Introduction et Polonaise Brillante, Op.3 (Frédéric Chopin) 14 CyBC Orfeas Hiratos Clarinet 1) Sonáta: Allegro (Franz Danzi)2) Fantasiestuecke I (Robert Schumann)3) 4 Miniatures: Nos 3 & 4 (Bruno Brun) 15 RTR Anastasia Kobekina Cello 1) Rondo (Luigi Boccherini)2) Noktürn (Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)3) At the fountain op. 20/2 (Karl Davidov) 16 TVP Marta Kowalczyk Violin 1) Fantasie Brillante sur Gounod's "Faust" op.20 (Henryk Wieniawski)

Final Awards were given to the top three participants. The table below highlights these using gold, silver, and bronze. The placing results of the remaining participants is unknown and never made public by the European Broadcasting Union.

Country Performer Instrument Piece Composer Result 1 Jan Cricar Saxophone Pequeña Czarda Pedro Iturralde 2 Anastasia Kobekina Cello Cello Concerto in C Major, 1st mov. Joseph Haydn 3 Philip Achille Harmonica Chromatic Harmonica Concerto, 1st mov. Jascha Spivakovsky 4 Roope Gröndahl Piano Piano Concerto in B-flat Minor, 3rd mov. Peter Tchaikovsky 2 5 Clarinet Clarinet Concerto, 4th mov. Jean Françaix 1 6 Steven Bourne Cello Elegie Gabriel Fauré 7 Eldbjørg Hemsing Violin Carmen Fantasie Franz Waxman 3

Jury members The jury members consisted of the following:

Semi-final

– Jeanette de Boer – Günter Voglmayr – – Ranko Marković – – Jerzy Maksymiuk

Final

– Sir Roger Norrington (head) – Ranko Markovic / – Jeanette de Boer – Lars Anders Tomter – Günter Voglmayr – Alison Balsom

Broadcasting Broadcasters in 18 countries received the competition live via the Eurovision Network and broadcast it in their territories. The competition was broadcast also in Iceland and Lithuania in addition to the competing countries. Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.

+ Broadcasters in participating countries Country Broadcaster(s) Channel(s) Commentator(s) ORF ORF 2 HRT CyBC Yle Yle Teema ARD (WDR) WDR Fernsehen 3sat ERT ET1 Alexis Kostalas NPS NRK NRK1 TVP TVR TVR Cultural Alexandru Tomescu RTR KTVC RTS RTVSLO SVT SVT2 NTU BBC BBC Four Nicola Loud

+ Broadcasters in non-participating countries Country Broadcaster RÚV LRT

See also Eurovision Song Contest 2008 Eurovision Dance Contest 2008 Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008

Notes

References

External links

Pictures from the Eurovision Young Musicians 2008 final in Vienna