Canadian wins BBC Young Musician
OrchestrasPianist Ryan Wang, from Vancouver, Canada, was tonight proclaimed winner of BBC Young Musician 2024.
Wang, 17, is a student at Eton.
He has been playing since age four.
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Tonight’s final was mediocre at best. All three were technically apt, but none had the real artistic wow factor, and none were moving musically.
But it’s none of their fault. It’s all because of this year’s highly unqualified judging panel.
Personally, I’d have put the harpist, cellist and Maya the violinist in. They were far more engaging musicians, and would have lead to a truly unique, memorable final.
And yet again we end up with (yawn) another stereotypical prodigy pianist who can offer fast fingers and nothing much more.
I didn’t find him stereotypical at all. He seemed highly intelligent, modest, thoughtful, and gave a remarkably mature account of this difficult piece.
And not having played it many many times already, he offered a delightfully fresh response to this famous piece, which I found thrilling. Whereas to my ear, Jacky seemed to attack the piece, and he had a rather hard tone. During the violin concerto, I found myself thinking ‘what a lot of hard work’, and I agree with Jennifer Pike on Radio 3, who said he could do with a bigger toned violin. By contrast, one was carried along by Ryan’s interpretation, without thinking of the effort involved.
Ryan was the stand-out star all the way through. Yes, lack of wind entries appalling – get back to the old format.
SO moved by him..absolutely heavenly…magical….congratulations…cannot imagine the work he has put in since such a very young age…but they were ALL wonderful…congratulations to them all…
Two Rachs was pretty tedious to sit through, but Ryan was the right winner out of the 3.
AB banging on about how Shlomi will be a world famous violinist one day seemed delusional – the Tchaik was too far beyond him and painful to listen to for quite significant chunks.
And if I hear HCJ say an iteration of ‘vibe’ ever again I will be switching the whole thing off next time.
I’ve always made time for BBCYM but god they make it hard to enjoy it don’t they!
The total dumbing down of BBCYM. Sad to see a panel which was, as well as partly unqualified, also totally incomplete (where were the string, woodwind and percussion specialists in the previous rounds?). If their discussions were as shallow as portrayed on TV (Jess having to remind them to choose woodwind players was a particularly low point…), they have really let a lot of musicians down. Well done to all the musicians that made it through the rounds though, this has nothing to do with them but with the BBC for turning a world class competition into a very shallow one.
I took part in the competition 40 years ago when Nick Daniels won.
For the past 30 years I have been putting my students in for it. Some have done well and gained a lot. Over this time several students reached the category finals.
If this new format remains I will not waste my students time ( and mine) with this competition any more.
Rather a brief news item!
Ryan Wang is certainly the winner! He is a well known pianist! I heard him live in Paris, it was breathtaking! Congratulations
A deserved winner, well done Ryan. The only finalist who deserved a place in the final, in my opinion. Incredible depth to the Rachmaninov.
Shlomi may manage a fantastic sound some of the time but his performance, as in previous rounds, was simply painful to listen to – he doesn’t seem to be able to tell what’s in tune and what isn’t – and watch – I want to have a word with whoever’s given him that terrible technique, his bow was often 10 degrees off straight and I fear for his shoulders.
Jacky was more accomplished than Shlomi but he doesn’t have a great sound or interpretation, and given that he’s an conservatoire undergrad I feel he should be better than that.
I would have liked to have seen more of Maya, a better all-round violinist; Hugo, a hugely accomplished cellist, his cellist-father advantage notwithstanding; Defne, who offered profound musicality you don’t often see on the harp; and Jamaal, again a fantastic all-round musician, also on harp; and Alicia, who had a bad day but offered a very fresh clarinet performance overall.
Two of the judges have received most of the criticism but I don’t understand why Alison Balsom has avoided it – she constantly pushed Shlomi as the next big global violin soloist when he can’t play in tune or bow straight.
I’m glad that at least Ryan has won!
Technically Out of the 4 violinists in the quarter finals Rose, Kaelyn and Maya stood out more than Sholmi. I wonder if he was chosen because of his interesting background and stories.
Sadly this BBCYM is not a fair competition to many instrumentalists.
The new format was depressing and didn’t have the gravitas it deserves, sadly. It is not all fun and games, years of hard work and commitment goes into it. Woodwind and brass were obliterated in the rounds and we didn’t need 2 pianists in the final, let alone both playing the same piece. The ‘chat’ in between movements was extremely irritating and spoilt the mood. I found the whole thing dumbed down and annoying, sadly. Of the finalists, Shlomi was my winner. Unfortunately, elitism won the day.
He is clearly the winner! Heard him live in Paris, the concert was breathtaking! Congratulations
What a travesty this competition has sunk to.
Mediocrity due to very poor and uninformed adjudication from the start and the usual BBC now seeking diversity and box ticking before skill and ability.
Any musician with ears would have heard the winner being self indulgent and not working with the orchestra and conductor, but instead adopting the Lang Lang flashy and splashy school of playing.
Technically he was the weakest of the 3 finalists, and musically he was boringly dull and predictable – very much like the crass comments from the badly selected and unsuitable adjudicators.
A very sad day for the previously admired competition as a result.
Watch now, and see where the winner goes.. some expert training would help for starters before he burns out in the circus of the concert rounds.
What a calamity this competition has become. Thankfully Ryan did at least win, which was clearly the right decision, however, this year the competition was painful to watch.
I’ll start with the clown in yellow. How the hell do the BBC think she is qualified to judge this competition? There for the colour of her skin and “interesting” background. She needed to stop talking about “vibing” with the orchestra. In fact she needed to stop talking full stop as it was mostly unintelligent drivel.
Next, Mr crap piano music man. Again, there for the colour of his skin. Another one who just spouts out stock phrases, yet would not get near playing Rach 2. Ever.
AB, at least can stand up and deliver as a classical musician, but she is deluded if she thinks Shlomi will be a great violinist with that technique and intonation. It was painful to listening to. Both Maya and the cellist were far superior players in the previous round, but they don’t have the “interesting” back story. So it’s a no from the BBC.
The BBC need to take a good hard look at how this competition is run. Make sure they use, specialist adjudicators whatever their skin colour and go back to instrumental categories.
Oh and for the woke out there. It’s not being racist. It’s simply the facts.
Totally agree with your wonderfully graphic comments on the judges. All the young musicians were let down by a ridiculous new format and inane commentary
Young Ryan Wang is a most promising pianist- technically brilliant with a lovely singing tone quality in the Andante & well schooled- at present he lacks a distinctive musical personality- but this will come & he surely will have a career of sorts if he so choses. The other Chinese lad, also playing Rach 2, was rather stiff throughout but a good pianist with some interesting moments. The Ukrainian boy on violin is highly talented- but, as yet, this is not a fully formed Tchaikovsky concerto & there were a few intonation problems- maybe partly owing to nerves. All credit to these 3 youngsters- who are a good advertisement for the future of Classical Music. However, the judging was appalling throughout & misinformed.
BBC News and TV ‘magazine’ programmes not unusually silent on the outcome. It’s not ‘pop’, ‘reality TV’ or Football/Soccer, or “Strictly” (ex-footie Paul Merson voted off this weekend according to one a.m. ‘magazine’ programme, that’s now having a post-mortem on that eviction) so it doesn’t warrant any mention in their view. Or, perhaps the BBC is embarrassed with the reorganisation of the whole competition this time round. It wasn’t broke; it is now. Furthermore, all the competitors have more talent in their little fingers than any number of so-called ‘celebrities’ with which the BBC is obsessed. Personally, I think they’re wanting to shelve the whole competition, and I feel a formal complaint to BBC coming on, which will only be responded to by off-the-shelf, cut-and-paste, platitudinous corporate speak, as usual.
And putting the recording of the final on at 11pm at night didn’t help. Fortunately I had recorded it.
Ryan certainly deserved to win on the night but whether those three deserved to be in the final is very debatable. The judging panel were awful.
I agree re the judges
To be honest anyone who has a reasonable experience in classical music could have done their job on the night
No score following or note making during the performances
I think the winner was the right choice on the night
I’d like to hear the Ukraine violinist again though
I thought the hall was lovely
But to be honest if that’s my main thought then there’s something missing somewhere
Ryan did feel like a worthy winner within the system employed this year, and deserves to be celebrated. He may be privileged, but he is also communicative, talented and committed. Shlomi has a message to deliver, and his playing was at times quite beautiful, and always sincere. Hopefully, he will get a teacher for his level, to develop the technical control needed to serve his imagination. It seems churlish to suggest who should and shouldn’t get through when we are not party to whole performance and there are always controversies in competitions as we all feel passionately about performers that we connect with. However, the fabric of BBCYM this year was sadly far from ideal. The ‘judging’ was more appropriate for a Saturday Night light entertainment show. In the Introduction, the portraits of some of the adjudicators’ musical credentials was illuminating and the fact that they were just sitting in the audience without making notes or following the scores just shows how far the competition has fallen. Did the performers get any really useful feedback or advice? Whilst classical musicians may now be a significant minority, perhaps the BBC needs to start listening. This year’s YM felt like a cost saving exercise. However, perhaps it is time for a reset- much has changed in the past 40+ years. Keeping the aspects of the old formula that worked – professional adjudicators and categories would be sensible, but raising the criteria so that it serves the 18-22 age range would arguably be more worthwhile. The idea of comparing pre- college students with such vastly different backgrounds when none of them are ready for a professional career seems odd. Even at 22 a musician is not fully formed, but there is a greater capacity at this age to see who really has the potential to be a professional performer, and the winner would be better placed to pace their career and not be a victim of their own success.
I had to turn to the comments to find out what instrument he played. That seems odd.
Ryan’s technical abilities passed for dazzling pianism to the mediocre panel, but the interior life of the concerto was as fugitive as its glamour was superficial. Ar times Shlomi played with surprising emotional intensity, but lacked the confidence and poise to project a commanding presence and aura, qualities Eton inculcates with its peerless tincture of entitlement. Jacky was more performative than intuitive, and needs a masterclass with Imogen Cooper. Inevitably, the judges followed the playbook of ‘The Apprentice’ or ‘Strictly’, and presented a BBCYM of dumb-down banality.
Aside from the nonsense decision by the BBC to have the same 3 uninformed judges presiding over all the different categories from the start , this new format will inevitably lead to the competition being dominated by pianists and string players, particularly violinists. This is due to these instrumentalists starting from such an early age, 4 years old in some cases and having a 6 or 7 year head start on many of the wind, brass and percussionists. Factor in the advantage of arguably more impressive sounding chamber music repertoire for the early rounds and the fact that pianists and string players can easily practise for 7 hours a day compared to wind and brass and the whole thing becomes a bit of a charade.
Also something else which may be open for debate here. All 3 finalists seemed to be from other countries . ( Nothing personal against any of them , they all seemed lovely) However, as it is not an International competition I find it strange that International students attending UK educational establishments can apply for and often walk away with a prize which UK tax payers are funding through the BBC licence fee. The clue is in the name BBC. Surely we need to be encouraging and showcasing home grown talent to nurture music here. Not pluck some International talent and nurture them instead.
Who does Shlomi study with? A shame he never credits his teacher for what will most likely be the highlight of his career
How disappointing. What happened to the Woodwind,Brass and Percussion. The old format was much better . Mediocre playing. Awful violinist….wants to be a soloist…look at previous BBCYMY…Why AB was pushing Shlomi when Maya was much better…if you play in the final you have to get the notes right. As for the judges…very sad. I’ve never heard so much rubbish they clearly didn’t know what they were talking about.
I’d like to know what happened to all the wonderful homegrown talent we have in the UK…ON EVERY INSTRUMENT…looking back at previous competitions, there was never this woke bias towards everyone and everything and nothing. And what on earth is the sense of having the same three judges for the final as have sat through all the previous rounds? No notes, no scores, all very odd. Surely some new eyes and ears is the fair way to go? And looking at the rules and regulations for entrants, some of that needs some serious tweaking. Please please please bring back the old format!
I agree. Of the three that went through to the final, I thought that Ryan Wang was the deserved winner.
His appeared to the most mature presentation all round and he knows his concert stage manners.
But that is purely my untutored, concert-going, subjective opinion. Disappointing that note that the three judges appeared to use more or less the same criteria, utilising neither scores, nor taking any notes, but simply sitting, dewy-eyed and being no more objective than I could be.
If this is how BBCYM is going to go, it won’t be worth watching, and frankly, any of the young participants will be led up the garden path. And why the ‘wild card’ fraud? There were at least three other entrants this year worthy of being in the final, already mentioned here, from other disciplines, but they were not put through.
This has been a major highly regarded competition over many years that has produced many world class players whose names we can all list. However, this year’s competition has been so disappointing, not because of the talent and obvious hours of practice by the performers, but because of the competition’s new format where we ended up with two pianists playing the same piece.
The adjudicators lacked the depth of knowledge of the classical repertoire revealed in some of the inane and shallow comments made. Please restore the former format with specialist adjudicators who know what they’re talking about based on years of teaching and performing the classical repertoire. Having the same three judges throughout the competition was tedious, narrow and lacked the breadth and depth of knowledge needed.
Please don’t let this competition be reduced in status and prestige. Broadcast the final live, not as a Match of the Day highlights programme with unnecessary and distracting comments from the conductor between movements. All such a disappointment and lowering of the status of this competition. BBC sort yourselves out for next time.
BBCYMY The team that organised this should RESIGN.Did the panel really understand the depth of the YSAYE Sonata from previous round,and choose a Conductor that doesn’t talk between movements.
I agree that at least one of the so-called adjudicators was underqualified but hope that the contestants don’t read all the vicious comments here. They are children, ffs!
The jury’s inanities (throughout the entire competition) really took some beating. And really we shouldn’t be privy to all this stuff. At the finals not one of them took notes, not one of them took a score so well did they consider they knew the works. All good fortune to the brave contestants. They deserved better.
The format is hopeless as were the judges. Sitting there listening without a note or a score. What is that? Is this a serious competition? Even the Strictly judges take notes, I believe! Balsom was the only serious musician among them – the other two were crossover obviously there for diversity. Just how were they to judge was beyond me. Get beck to the old format and have specialist judges else this is becoming another talent show.
I thought the three finalists were very talented and any of them could have won. No thanks to the judges though.
What is the point of a competition that has manifestly devalued merit?
Aside from the competition itself, even the commentary was banal.
What an absolute travesty!
That the BBC, of all institutions, should allow themselves to be hijacked by this charade, speaks volumes for the politicisation of what was previously a high prestige competition. Everyone is in agreement that at this level professionals at the top of their game should be responsible for voting through the best of what is a remarkable standard of achievement amongst the best of our young musicians.
As so many here have said, these incredible young people (several who should have been in the final) are the ones the BBC has let down. What next? You may as well save some money and just go for an audience vote!
Just an additional comment – as this is BBC young musician surely the winner ought to be British. We should be looking for home grown talent not seeking it overseas. This is not being parochial but surely we need an opportunity to assess our own young musicians without those coming from overseas who will no doubt get their chance in international competitions.
The sad deterioration in BBCYMY should have come as no surprise. It is of a piece with the approach now taken to classical music on Radio 3, Cardiff Singer (where at least some of the judges are senior professionals and all take notes), and – worst of all – the televised BBC Proms: it patronises listeners and viewers, exchanges experience for gushing comments, and doesn’t let the music speak for itself. I fear for the future of broadcast music.
Both Hugo and Maya (dual Swedish/British nationals) took part in the Swedish Poltsjarne competition earlier this year. Hugo won, and will represent Sweden in the Eurovision Young Musician Competition on 16 November. Maya was third.
I preferred Schlomi who played the Tchaikovsky violin concerto. Pop Classics won on Sunday evening.