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SEEN AND HEARD NEWS ARTICLE
BBC Young Musician of the Year 2008:
The Grand Finals in Cardiff this weekend (BK)
Five of Britain’s most talented young musicians will compete at
Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff this weekend (May 10th and 11th)
for one of music’s greatest titles: BBC Young Musician of the Year.
The finalists in the prestigious biennial competition, organised by
BBC Wales, are:
Jadran Duncumb, guitar, aged 18
David Smith, flute, aged 18
Peter Moore, trombone, aged 12
Jim Molyneux, percussion, aged 17
Erdem Misirlioğlu, piano, aged 18
One
of the five will follow in the footsteps as such winners as Nicola
Benedetti. Jennifer Pike, Emma Johnson and 2006 winner clarinettist
Mark Simpson.
Belfast-born Peter Moore, who now lives in Stalybridge, Cheshire and
Jim Molyneux from Littleborough, Lancashire are both pupils at
Chetham’s School of Music, Manchester. David Smith is from Fife and
is studying at St Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh. Sheffield-born
Jadran
Duncumb is
currently at school in Ski, Norway and Erdem
Misirlioğlu is
at Northgate High School in Ipswich and travels every week to the
Junior Department at Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Peter,
aged just 12, was also the youngest musician to reach the category
finals that were held in Cardiff’s Royal Welsh College of Music and
Drama in February.
To mark the 30th anniversary of the competition, the final is being
transformed into a two day celebration at the iconic Wales
Millennium Centre. On Saturday May 10th, each of the five finalists
will play their chosen concerto with the BBC National Orchestra of
Wales and Principal Conductor Thierry Fischer, in front of the
Judging Panel and a live audience. The competitors return to the
stage on Sunday, May 11, again with BBC National Orchestra of Wales
and Thierry Fischer. All five will reprise part of their concerto
performance, chosen by the judges after the previous evening’s
concert and will also perform a piece that is particularly personal
to them. Sunday’s live music performances will be interspersed with
documentary footage of Jadran, Jim, Peter, David and Erdem’s journey
to the Grand Final.
Before the prestigious title of BBC Young Musician of the Year 2008
is presented to one of the five, the Tabor Award for Promising
Talent will be presented by Doreen Tabor to one of the competitors
chosen from across the Category Finalists. The Grand Final weekend
is supported by the Tabor Foundation and the Tabor Award of £2,000
is made to assist with the costs of special tuition to enable the
competitor to achieve his or her potential.
In addition, The Walter Todds Bursary, given in memory of the
founder of BBC Young Musician of the Year, will also be
presented. A total bursary of £1,500 will be awarded to the
performer or performers who do not reach the Grand Final Weekend but
who show great promise.
Series Producer Steve Crabtree said, “In 2008 the BBC Young Musician
of the Year Competition celebrates its 30th Anniversary. This year
the programme is being produced by BBC Wales and promises more music
than ever; with a huge online presence, a special documentary
looking back over the history of the competition, a new documentary
series of five programmes looking at this year's finalists, live
streaming of the concerto performance and a spectacular two hour
Grand Final show. The full concerto performances, as well as
all category final performances by all competitors can be viewed in
full and uninterrupted online at
www.bbc.co.uk/youngmusician,
from where exclusive content such as interviews with
contestants and the chairman of the judges Ben Foster can be found
as well as lots of other information about the competition.”
The final five
Jadran Duncumb - Guitar
Age:
18
From: Ski, Norway
Based in Ski near Oslo in Norway, 18 year old Jadran began playing
the guitar 10 years ago. He is in his final year at Ski 6th Form
College and also attends Barratt Due Music Institute in Oslo where
he studies in the Conservatoire Class, a programme for a handful of
the very best young musicians in Norway. Jadran has won the
Norwegian National Youth Competition twice, not only in the guitar
class but also in the duet class with his brother Emil, who competed
in the Keyboard Semi-Final of BBC Young Musician. Jadran intends
studying music at a UK Conservatoire from autumn 2008.
David Smith - Flute
Age:
18
From: Fife
18
year old David Smith is at St Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh. He
was inspired to begin playing the flute just 4 years ago when he
heard Debussy’s L’aprés Midi d’un Faune. David plays in many of his
school’s chamber groups, the Edinburgh Youth Orchestra and the
National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, and he is also an accomplished
saxophonist. Amongst David’s non-musical passions he loves
shopping, clothes and shoes!
Peter Moore - Trombone
Age:
12
From: Stalybridge, Cheshire
At
12 years old, Peter is the youngest remaining musician in the
Competition. All Peter’s family are brass players and he started
playing the trombone aged six. In Year 7 at Chetham’s School of
Music, he plays in many groups and ensembles but has also held the
position of Principal Trombone of the National Children’s Band of
Great Britain for the last three years and is solo trombone player
with Wingates Band.
Jim
Molyneux - Percussion
Age:
17
From: Littleborough, Lancashire
Jim
took up percussion at the age of seven as he had been hitting
buckets and ironing boards from a much earlier age! 10 years later,
he is a student in the Lower Sixth at Chetham’s School of Music, he
also plays the piano accordion and sings. Jim plays in various
ensembles at school plus, a folk band called 4Square, who tour the
Britain playing summer folk festivals and a rock band called The
Zero Symphony.
Erdem Misirlioğlu - Piano
Age:
18
From: Ipswich
18
year old Erdem is a student at Northgate High School in Ipswich
studying Music, Maths and Further Maths at A Level and travels every
week to the Junior Department at Guildhall School of Music and
Drama. Chamber music is a big part of Erdem’s musical life and he
belongs to a piano trio, a duo with violin and until recently a
piano duo. He enjoys almost any form of sport and also likes
anything that requires a logical thought process from maths puzzles
to chess.
The Stars Come Out For The Contestants
A glamorous
line-up of celebrities have been assembled for the grand final in
including Gethin Jones, Catrin Finch, Aled Jones and Nicola
Benedetti.
A past winner of competition, violinist Nicola Benedetti, 21, comes
to the prestigious weekend musical fresh from being
named young British classical performer at the Classical Brit Awards
on Thursday night. She will be joining 'Queen of the
Harp', former royal harpist Catrin Finch, 27, on the panel of jurors
and together they will be two of the youngest judges in the
competition’s 30 year history.
Strictly Come Dancing star and Blue Peter presenter Gethin Jones
joins singer and presenter Aled Jones in hosting the competition.
Joining Nicola and Catrin as judges are Dr Who orchestrator and
conductor Ben Foster, award-winning conductor Paul Daniel and music
critic Richard Morrison. Ben
is no stranger to Wales as orchestrator and conductor for the BBC
Wales series Doctor Who. Other work as an orchestrator includes the
films, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Alien Autopsy, Death
at a Funeral and 27 Dresses. Ben also writes music for the BBC drama
Torchwood which was nominated in the Best Music category in the 2006 BAFTA Cymru Awards.
Ben was a
judge on the Blue Peter Music Makers project in 2006 and a
contributor to the Blue Peter Movie Makers project in 2007.
Ticket information Grand Final Weekend:
Saturday 10 May 2008 at 7.00pm
Sunday 11 May 2008 at 1.30pm
Wales Millennium Centre Box Office: 08700 40 2000
Tickets for each concert: £12, £10, £8, £5 concessions available. 20 %
Discount if booking for both Saturday and Sunday, May 10 and 11
(excludes £5 tickets)
Broadcast Coverage:
BBC
Young Musician of the Year will receive more coverage across the
different broadcast platforms than ever before.
The
five finalists were announced in a series of BBC FOUR hour long
programmes of performance and documentary which followed the
competitors as they took part in the Category Finals, each with
their sights set on winning a place in the Grand Final.
BBC
TWO will host coverage of the Grand Final Weekend in a two hour
special, broadcast on Sunday, May 11th just moments after the live
event has finished. Viewers will be able to judge the young
musicians for themselves as highlights of Saturday’s concerto
performance plus all the music, tension and eventual results from
earlier that afternoon are shown.
BBC
Radio 3 has been featuring each Category Winner in Afternoon
on 3 Monday to Friday, May 5th to 9th May and listeners will be able
to hear the concerto performances recorded on Saturday 11th May in
Performance on 3 on Monday, May 12th from 7.00pm.
There is also extensive online coverage
www.bbc.co.uk/youngmusician.
Glyn Pursglove will report on Sunday's concert for Seen and Heard
International.
Bill Kenny
Pictures © BBC
Picture Publicity
www.bbcpictures.com