The Grand Final Weekend
To mark the 30th anniversary of the Competition, the Final of Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Young Musician of the Year, produced by Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Wales, is being transformed into a two day celebration of our outstanding young musicians.
On Saturday 10 May, each of the five Finalists will play their chosen concerto with the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú National Orchestra of Wales and Principal Conductor Thierry Fischer, in front of the judging panel and a live audience. The whole evening will be streamed live and exclusive on the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Young Musician website.
The competitors return to the stage on Sunday 11 May, with Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú 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. They will also perform a piece that is particularly personal to them.
Sunday's live music performances will be interspersed with documentary footage of each Finalist's journey to the Grand Final.
Once the competitors have played, the judges will retire to make their decision.
Before the prestigious title of Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Young Musician of the Year 2008 is presented to one of the young musicians, the Tabor Award for Promising Talent will be presented by Doreen Tabor to one of the competitors chosen from across our Category Finalists. The Tabor Foundation is also the overall sponsor of the Grand Final weekend.
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 Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Young Musician of the Year, will be presented. A total bursary of £1,000 will be awarded to the performer or performers who do not reach the Grand Final weekend but who show great promise.
Broadcast Coverage
Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Young Musician of the Year will receive more coverage across the different broadcast platforms than ever before.
Television coverage starts on Sunday, 4 May with a 60 minute documentary on Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Two looking back at the history of the Competition, catching up with past winners, finalists and judges and examining the impact that the UK's most prestigious classical music competition for young people has had on the young musicians themselves.
On Monday, 5 May the competition moves to Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Four and each night across the week leading up to the Grand Final weekend, an hour long programme of performance and documentary will follow the competitors as they take part in the Category Finals, each with their sights set on winning a place in the Grand Final.
On Saturday 10 May, live coverage of the concerto performances with the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú National Orchestra of Wales and Principal Conductor Thierry Fischer, from the Wales Millennium Centre, will be streamed exclusively on the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Young Musician website.
Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Two will host coverage of the Grand Final Weekend in a two hour special, broadcast on Sunday 11 May, 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.
Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Radio 3 are this year featuring each Category Winner in Afternoon on 3, Monday to Friday, 5 to 9 May, and listeners will be able to hear the concerto performances recorded on Saturday 10 May in Performance on 3, on Monday 12 May, from 7.00pm.
As a prelude to the competition, Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Radio 4 will broadcast 'Young Musicians Grown Old', on Thursday 1 May at 11.30pm. In the programme 2006 winner Mark Simpson talks to competitors from the last 30 years to find out how they coped with the pressures, expectations and celebrity that came with competing, and whether the aspirations of youth were fulfilled in their careers.
