BBC Young Musician 2016 Finalists
The three Finalists for BBC Young Musician 2016 have been announced: saxophonist Jess Gillam, cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason and French Horn player Ben Goldscheider.
The Final of BBC Young Musician 2016 will take place on Sunday 15 May at the Barbican, London. It will be recorded for broadcast the same day at 7pm on BBC Four, presented by Clemency Burton-Hill, Alison Balsom and Josie D’Arby. It will also be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 at 7:30pm, presented by Sarah Walker and including commentary from violinist Jennifer Pike (winner of BBC Young Musician in 2002).
Jess, Ben and Sheku will each perform a concerto of their choice, accompanied by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Mark Wigglesworth. Plus, the 2014 winner, pianist Martin James Bartlett, will return to perform the first movement of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto no.3 – before the winner of BBC Young Musician 2016 is announced.
The Finalists will perform:
Jess Gillam: Michael Nyman’s Where the Bee Dances
Ben Goldscheider: Richard Strauss’s Horn Concerto no. 2
Sheku Kanneh-Mason: Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto no. 1
The expert panel of judges will be chaired by Dobrinka Tabakova, who has sat across all five category finals and the semi-final. Alongside her on the judging panel will be saxophonist Amy Dickson, French Horn player Alec Frank-Gemmill, cellist Jamie Walton, and Director of the BBC Proms, David Pickard.
Violinist Nicola Benedetti, herself a winner in 2004, returns for the second year as BBC Young Musician Ambassador, and will support and mentor the three Finalists in the run-up to the Final.
The Semi-Final of BBC Young Musician 2016 was broadcast this evening [Saturday 7 May] on BBC Four. The 2016 Semi-Finalists were: pianist Jackie Campbell (15), saxophonist Jess Gillam (17), percussionist Andrew Woolcock (16), French Horn player Ben Goldscheider (18) and cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason (17).
Now in its 38th year, BBC Young Musician is a part of the BBC’s ongoing commitment to supporting and providing a platform for new and emerging talent. Since its first outing in 1978 the competition has established an enviable reputation for finding outstanding new talent. Seventeen-year-old pianist Martin James Bartlett was awarded the title BBC Young Musician 2014 and has since given acclaimed solo recitals in concert venues across the UK, made his debut at the BBC Proms (2015) and appeared as part of the BBC’s 2014 charity single, ‘God Only Knows’.
Martin took his place alongside a star-studded list of former BBC Young Musician winners and finalists that includes Thomas Adès, Alison Balsom, Nicola Benedetti, Nicholas Daniel, Benjamin Grosvenor, Stephen Hough, Emma Johnson, Freddy Kempf, Jennifer Pike and Paul Watkins.
Following its successful launch in 2014, the BBC Young Musician Jazz Award returns in 2016, running alongside the established classical music format. The Final will be broadcast on BBC Four on Friday 13 May.
BBC Young Musician is managed and produced by BBC Studios / BBC Cymru Wales.
BBC Young Musician online
Every performance will be available to watch in full on the BBC Young Musician 2016 website.
Twitter: @BBCYoungMus
Facebook: facebook.com/BBCYoungMusician
For further information contact: madeleine.castell@bbc.co.uk / 07753 309065
BBC Young Musician 2016 – Finalists:
Jess Gillam - saxophone
17 year old saxophonist Jess Gillam from Ulverston, Cumbria, began playing saxophone aged seven. She was a Woodwind Finalist at BBC Young Musician 2014 and was awarded the Walter Todds Bursary that year. Jess was also recently awarded Musician of the Year at the Cumbria Culture Awards presented by Melvyn Bragg. She has a busy performance schedule, including a guest appearance with Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra and appearing as a concerto soloist with the Worthing Symphony Orchestra.
Most recently, Jess was the youngest of 2600 delegates to perform at the World Saxophone Congress in Strasbourg. She performed a recital consisting entirely of world premieres by some of the world’s leading saxophonists, Barbara Thompson, John Harle and Rob Buckland as well as one of her own compositions. Awards for Young Musicians have helped Jess greatly with her musical development and Jess has performed in concerts for AYM in venues from the Charterhouse London to John O’Groats. Jess was given a special award from AYM as the most promising young musician in the North West.
Jess was accepted into the Junior RNCM in Manchester with an ABRSM Scholarship in 2011 and studies there with Ruth Bourn and Rob Buckland. As well as having a passion for performance, Jess also has an interest in promoting live music and she has been running an annual concert series in her home town of Ulverston for the past five years, bringing international names such as Courtney Pine, Snake Davis, Tommy Smith and the Apollo Saxophone Quartet.
Ben Goldscheider - French Horn
Ben, 18, from Hertfordshire, was born into a musical family and is currently studying for his A levels in Music and History at the Knights Templar School. He started learning the horn at the age of 9 and since the age of 11 has been studying with Susan Dent at the Royal College of Music Junior Department.
Ben’s real passion lies in solo and chamber music and he has appeared in public recitals and concertos all over the country and abroad. He has had many successes in competitions both national and international including being awarded the Philip Jones Brass Prize for most outstanding brass player at the Royal Overseas League Annual Music competition, second prize at the Bromsgrove International Young Musicians competition and both the David Cox Memorial Prize and audience prize at the Eastbourne Symphony Orchestra International Young Soloists competition. Ben is keen to promote the horn as a solo instrument with a focus on contemporary music and one upcoming highlight is Richard Strauss Horn Concerto no. 2 with the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra.
At the age of 13, Ben was appointed principal horn of the National Youth Chamber Orchestra and in 2014, principal horn of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain where he was unanimously awarded the John Fletcher Brass prize. In 2012, he was the youngest participant in the London Symphony Orchestra Brass Academy.
Aside from music, Ben is a keen sportsman and likes to read.
Sheku Kanneh-Mason - cello
17 year old Sheku attends Trinity Catholic Comprehensive School in Nottingham. He began playing the cello aged 6 with Sarah Huson-Whyte of Southwell, and at age 9 achieved the ABRSM Marguerite Swan Memorial Prize for Grade 8 cello, gaining the highest marks in the UK for that year. He holds the ABRSM Junior Scholarship to The Royal Academy of Music, where he has been studying cello with Ben Davies since 2008. He also studied piano with Druvi de Saram.
Sheku has won all three sections of the Lower Strings Prize at The Royal Academy and is also winner of The Dame Ruth Railton Chamber Music Prize. He plays Principal Cello in the Chineke! Junior Orchestra and also plays in the Chineke! Professional Orchestra, which had its debut in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank, in 2015. He plays in the Junior Royal Academy Symphony Orchestra and was a member of the National Youth Chamber Orchestra for several years. Sheku plays chamber music with the Kanneh-Mason Piano Trio and the Ash String Trio.
In the BBC Young Musician Strings Final and the Semi-final, Sheku played a cello made by Frank White of Ladystone Violins. For the Final, Sheku is playing a fine old Italian cello, made by Antonius and Hieronymus Amati, which is kindly on loan from Florian Leonhard Fine Violins.
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