Eurovision Young Musicians 2018 was the 19th edition of Eurovision Young Musicians. It consisted of two semi-finals on 18 and 19 August, held at the Festival Theatre Studio, and a final on 23 August 2018, held at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh, United Kingdom. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the Edinburgh International Festival, and host broadcaster the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). It was produced by BBC Cymru Wales for BBC Scotland and BBC Radio 3, and presented by Petroc Trelawny, with Josie d'Arby joining for the final. The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Thomas Dausgaard accompanied all competing performers. This was the second time the contest was held in the United Kingdom, being the first since the inaugural contest in .
Musicians representing eighteen countries participated in the contest, with Albania making their debut alongside seven returning countries, while Austria decided not to participate for the first time.
The winner was pianist Ivan Bessonov representing Russia, with violinist Nikola Pajanović representing Slovenia placing second. This was Russia's first win in the competition and the first pianist to win since Stanisław Drzewiecki for Poland in .
Location
Usher Hall, the venue for the final, is a concert hall situated on Lothian Road, in the west end of Edinburgh, Scotland. It has hosted concerts and events since its construction in 1914 and can hold approximately 2,900 people in its recently restored auditorium, which is well loved by performers due to its acoustics. The Hall is flanked by The Royal Lyceum Theatre on the right and The Traverse Theatre on the left. Historic Scotland has registered the Hall with Category A listed building status.
The hall previously hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 1972 after , which won the year before, was unable to provide a suitable venue. The last time the United Kingdom hosted a Eurovision network contest was the Eurovision Dance Contest 2008 in Glasgow.
Bidding phase According to an earlier statement by Vladislav Yakovlev, the former executive supervisor of the event, Budapest could host the 2018 contest after bidding for the 2016 edition. On 27 October 2016, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) launched a call to submit applications for the competition.
Host city announcement In early October 2017, Norwegian broadcaster Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) confirmed in an online article regarding its national selection Virtuos, that the United Kingdom would host this edition of the contest in August 2018. On 30 October 2017, the EBU announced that this edition of the contest would be held in Edinburgh between 16 and 24 of August 2018.
Format The semi-final round returned in 2018, produced by BBC Radio 3 in the form of public chamber recitals, at the Studio of the Edinburgh Festival Theatre on 18 and 19 August 2018.
Presenters On 6 August 2018, it was announced that Petroc Trelawny and Josie D'Arby would host the 2018 competition. Trelawny’s career started at BBC Radio Devon in 1989 as a reporter, before he made his transition to a career in classical music radio and television during the 1990s. Since 1998 he has been a presenter at BBC Radio 3, and is the face of classical magazine programme Music Matters, Radio 3’s Breakfast and concerts in Radio 3 Live in Concert. D’Arby started on Children's BBC (CBBC) in the 1990s before becoming the youngest woman to have her own chat show, Josie, in 1999 on Channel 5. She has co-presented a number of cultural programs for the BBC including; Young Musician of the Year since 2012, Cardiff Singer of the World since 2009, Songs of Praise since 2014 and Young Choir of the Year (2018). Her acting credits include playing series regular WPC Jodie Finn, in BBC One drama Merseybeat from 2002–04. On 11 August 2018, it was revealed that the semi-finals would be hosted by Trelawny, with D'Arby joining him in the final.
Jury members The winner of the competition was decided by an international panel of classical music luminaries. On 10 August 2018, the EBU announced the jurors of the competition. The judges for the semi-finals are British bassoonist Ursula Leveaux, Spanish percussionist Noè Roderigo Gisbert, Korean pianist Sinae Lee, and the chair cellist and conductor David Watkin. Joining Watkin's at the final were American conductor and violinist Marin Alsop, composer and performer Anna Meredith, Scottish classical composer and conductor James MacMillan and Head of Music for the Edinburgh International Festival, Andrew Moore.
Voting Altogether there are two set of juries: one for the two days of semi-finals and one for the final. In both juries, each juror was to independently rate each performer a score from 1–10 points. The following criteria were taken into account by the jurors in the semi-finals and finals:
Technical Accuracy Quality of Sound Interpretation Performance
After each juror has awarded his points, these were added together and the result presented to the jury first. However following discussion, the jury may make changes to the numerical rankings by mutual agreement. The six finalists were announced in a random order after the semi-finals on a separate live stream. In addition, it was announced that the jury in the final would not know the results of the semi-final jury to avoid interference. In the final, only the winner was announced during the televised broadcast.
Participants and results
The final list of participants were announced on 2 February 2018, with eighteen countries confirming their participation, the highest number since . Albania made their debut whilst seven countries, Belgium, Estonia, Greece, Israel, Russia, Spain and United Kingdom, all returned to Eurovision Young Musicians in 2018. Belgium last participated in 2006, Estonia in , Greece in , Israel in and Spain in . Russia and host country, the United Kingdom, most recently took part in .
Semi-finals The semi-finals consisted of six hour-long shows spread over two days. A total of eighteen countries took part, of which six qualified to the grand final. In each semi-final, three musicians performed, either solo or with piano accompaniment, for a total of 18 minutes each.
18 August + Participants and results Country Broadcaster Performer Instrument Piece(s) Semi-final 1 1 PBS Bernice Sammut Attard Piano 1) Toccata from Trois pièces by Francis Poulenc2) Prelude in C minor, Op. 23 No. 7 by Sergei Rachmaninoff3) Prelude in G sharp minor, Op. 32 No. 12 by S. Rachmaninoff4) Scherzo No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 31 by Frédéric Chopin 2 BBC Maxim Calver Cello 1) Sacher Variation by Witold Lutosławski2) Adagio Affettuoso from Cello Sonata in F, Op. 99 by Johannes Brahms3) No. 5 Minuetto e Finale from Suite Italienne by Igor Stravinsky 3 RTVE Sara Valencia Violin 1) Caprice Basque Op. 24 by Pablo de Sarasate2) Caprice No. 13 in B flat major by Niccolò Paganini3) 3rd mvt (Finale) of Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor Op. 24 by Max Bruch Semi-final 2 4 RTVSLO Nikola Pajanović Violin 1) Tambourin Chinois by Fritz Kreisler2) Capriccio No. 7 by N. Paganini3) Sonata for violin solo No. 3 in D minor by Eugène Ysaÿe 5 SMRTV Francesco Stefanelli Cello 1) Violoncello Totale for cello solo by Krzysztof Penderecki2) I mov, Cello Sonata in F major, Op. 99 by J. Brahms3) Papillon, Op. 77 by Gabriel Fauré4) V mov, Sonata for cello and piano in C, Op. 65 by Benjamin Britten 6 TVP Marta Chlebicka Flute 1) Hamburger Sonate in G major by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach2) Rigoletto Fantasie, Op. 335 by Wilhelm Popp Semi-final 3 7 MTV Máté Bencze Saxophone 1) Fantaisie sur un thème original by Jules Demersseman2) Allegro from Sonata in G minor BWV. 1020 by Johann Sebastian Bach3) Pequeña Czarda by Pedro Iturralde 8 ERT Thanos Tzanetakis Guitar 1) Fantasia in D minor by David Kellner2) 3rd Bagatelle from Five Bagatelles for guitar by William Walton3) 5th Bagatelle from Five Bagatelles for guitar by W. Walton4) Variaciones sobre un tema de Fernando Sor, Op. 19 by Miguel Llobet 9 IPBC Tamir Naaman-Pery Cello 1) Hungarian Rhapsody, Op. 68 by David Popper2) Preludio-Fantasia from Suite for Cello by Gaspar Cassadó
19 August + Participants and results Country Broadcaster Performer Instrument Piece(s) Semi-final 4 10 ERR Tanel-Eiko Novikov Percussion 1) Niflheim by Marján Csaba Zoltán2) Kuusi Op 75/5 by Jean Sibelius3) Verano porteño by Astor Piazzolla 11 RTBF Alexandra Cooreman Violin 1) Presto from Sonata for piano and violin Op 23 by Ludwig van Beethoven2) Valse-Scherzo by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 12 RTSH Klaudio Zoto Cello 1) Cello Sonata by Edvard Grieg2) Hungarian Rhapsody by Popper Semi-final 5 13 VGTRK Ivan Bessonov Piano 1) Mazurka in B flat minor, Op 24 No 4 by Chopin2) Fantaisie-Impromptu in C sharp minor, Op 66 by Chopin3) Prelude in G minor, Op 23 No 5 by Rachmaninov4) Barncleupédie by James MacMillan 14 WDR Mira Foron Violin 1) Cadenza for solo viola by Penderecki2) Tzigane by Maurice Ravel 15 ČT Indi Stivín Double bass 1) Bohemian Suite, 1st Movement: "Celts" by I. Stivin2) Bohemian Suite, 2nd mvt: "Czech Country" by I. Stivin3) Bohemian Suite, 3rd mvt: Tarantella Praga by I. Stivin Semi-final 6 16 SVT Johanna Ander Ljung Harp 1) Improvisations for Harp, Op 10 by William Mathias2) Allemande from Suite No 5 in F by John Loeillet3) Féerie - Prelude et Dance by Marcel Tournier 17 NRK Birgitta Elisa Oftestad Cello 1) 1st mvt from Cello Concerto No 1 by Dmitri Shostakovich2) Adagio and Allegro by Robert Schumann 18 HRT Jan Tominić Saxophone 1) Fantaisie sur un thème original by Demersseman2) Cinq danses exotiques by Jean Françaix3) Aria by Eugène Bozza4) Brasileira from Scaramouche by Darius Milhaud
Final Six contestants were selected by the first jury to progress to the Final and the second decided the winner of Eurovision Young Musicians 2018. Each finalist performed one or more movements of a single musical work, accompanied by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, for up to 12 minutes. During the live shows interval, the orchestra performed "Hedwig's Theme" from the Harry Potter score although this was not included in the televised broadcast. The winner received a custom-made engraved trophy, a cash prize of €7,000, and a performance opportunity with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in a forthcoming season. The runner-up received a cash prize of €3,000.
+ Participants and results Country Performer Instrument Piece(s) Composer 1 Birgitta Elisa Oftestad Cello Cello Concerto, 4th mov. Edward Elgar 2 Nikola Pajanović Violin Violin Concerto, 3rd mov. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 2 3 Indi Stivín Double bass Bohemian Suite for Double Bass, 2nd and 3rd mov. Indi Stivín 4 Mira Foron Violin Violin Concerto, 3rd mov. Jean Sibelius 5 Máté Bencze Saxophone Saxophone Concerto da Camera Jacques Ibert 6 Ivan Bessonov Piano Piano Concerto No. 1, 3rd mov. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 1
Broadcasting The broadcasters in the following countries, listed in order of broadcasting dates, confirmed that they would broadcast the contest in their territories along with the dates of broadcasting schedules. The broadcasters in Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Poland, San Marino, Slovenia, Spain, and the UK also livestreamed the contest on their online platforms. The semi-finals and the final were broadcast live on the internet via the official YouTube channel of the competition.
Semi-finals
Date of broadcast Country Station18 August 2018 TVM2 (semi-final 1) KAN Kol Ha Musica (semi-final 3)18–19 August 2018 La Trois (semi-final 4) Klassikaraadio Rest of the world YouTube BBC Radio 3 19 August 2018 La 2 (semi-final 1) 20–21 August 2018 Russia-K 21–22 August 2018 Radio Clásica 22–23 August 2018 ETV223 August 2018 ČT art (semi-final 5) M5 (semi-final 3) NRK2 (semi-final 6)
Final