Meet the new New Generations

Very fine line-up for the BBC New Generation Artists' latest intake, announced yesterday evening. For 15 years BBC Radio 3 has been busy nurturing selected stars of the future on this scheme and they've often proved astute choices. Among those who've graced its portals are Benjamin Grosvenor, Alison Balsom, the Belcea String Quartet, Simon Trpceski, Khatia Buniatishvili and many more. The young musicians - already the bearers of fine track records - stay on the scheme for two years, during which time their concerts and broadcasts are very much in the spotlight. Here's the new bunch:

Danish String Quartet – String Quartet (Denmark)

In 2009 the Danish String Quartet not only won First Prize in the Eleventh London International String Quartet Competition, but their performance was so convincing that it was awarded four additional prizes: the 20th Century Prize, the Beethoven Prize, the Sidney Griller Award and the Menton Festival Prize. In January 2012 the quartet were appointed to the prestigious Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Two programme beginning with the 2013-2014 season.  

(I've heard these guys, and they are terrific.)

Kitty Whately – Mezzo Soprano (UK) (pictured right)

Kitty Whately studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and the Royal College of Music International Opera School. Kitty was the winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Award 2011 and the 59th Royal Overseas League Award for Singers, and in 2012 she was chosen to be a member of the prestigious Verbier Festival Academy in 2012. 

(Have been hearing rumbles about how excellent Kitty is for quite a while)

Olena Tokar - Soprano (Ukraine)

Soprano Olena Tokar was a finalist in the 2013 Cardiff Singer of the World competition. In 2012 she was awarded 1st Prizes both at the Lortzing Competition in Leipzig and at the renowned ARD International Music Competition in Munich. 

(Olena gave a wonderful performance in the Cardiff final and was a hot favourite for the prize.)

Lise Berthaud - Viola (France)

Lise Berthaud was a prize winner of the European Young Instrumentalists Competition in 2000 and won the Hindemith Prize at the Geneva International Competition in 2005. In 2009 she was short listed by the Victoires de la Musique Classique as “Révélation de l’Année” (Newcomer of the Year). 

(Hooray! A violist! Looking forward to hearing her.)

Louis Schwitzgebel – Piano (Switzerland) (pictured left)

Pianist Louis Schwitzgebel secured 2^nd prize at the Leeds International Piano Competition, where his performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 with the Hallé Orchestra under Sir Mark Elder in the final round was broadcast live on BBC Four and BBC Radio 3. At the age of 17 he was the winner of the Geneva International Music Competition.

(We loved his performance in the Leeds final and are delighted to hear he's been picked here.)

Zhang Zuo - Piano (China)

Zhang Zuo has garnered a host of awards, including first prizes at the 3^rd Shanghai International Piano Competition, the 7^th International Franz Liszt Piano Competition, and a ‘Vendome Virtuoso’ award from Vendome Prize competition. In 2013 she won 5^th prize at the 2013 Queen Elisabeth International Piano Competition. (Fine track record, that: again, looking forward greatly to hearing her.)

Federico Colli: the flower of Leeds?

The Italian pianist Federico Colli, 24, scooped first prize at the Leeds International Piano Competition last night. I tuned in on R3 in the middle of his Beethoven 'Emperor' Concerto, without remembering exactly who was due to play it, and was entranced. Seriously beautiful pianism with wonderful tone; very sensitive to nuances, voicing and atmosphere; intelligent, energetic and never heavy-handed: the sort of playing, indeed, that you don't really associate with the final of a piano competition.

Radio 3's announcer, Petroc Trelawny, seemed fixated, meanwhile, with the pianist's red cravat, and one of several friends who was in the audience remarks that Colli, who hails from Brescia, slightly resembled a cross between Casanova and Dracula, yet clearly had a lovely personality and superb stage presence.

Colli has also won the Salzburg International Mozart Competition (last year). He studies with Boris Petrushansky at Imola and Konstantin Bogino at Bergamo. Apparently he is "fascinated by the complex equations of quantum mechanics".

I'd take an educated guess, though, that it was a fairly close-run matter between Colli and the Swiss pianist Louis Schwizgebel, who played first on Friday evening. Of all the performances I've listened to so far, it is Schwizgebel's Haydn C major Sonata that has really stayed aboard.

Our doughty commentator Erica Worth, editor of Pianist Magazine, has just phoned us to report that she was very happy with the result. "The two top prizes went, I think, to the most interesting musicians, the ones who had the most personality and the most to say," she declares. "Personally I would have given first prize to Louis Schwizgebel and second to Colli, but I'm so glad they both came through at the top."

Third prize went to Jiayan Sun (China), fourth to Andrejs Osokins (Latvia), fifth to Andrew Tyson (USA) and sixth to Jayson Gillham (Australia). A special prize voted by the players of the Halle Orchestra and presented in memory of Terence Judd went to Andrew Tyson.

You can catch both final concerts and a selection of semi-final performances on BBC iPlayer (radio) this week. Today at 2pm there's a gala concert to be broadcast by Radio 3 involving all six finalists. And from 21 September the TV finally wakes up: BBC4 has a series of six hour-long programmes on successive Friday evenings devoted to the competition (though as we now know the results it seems a bit late to the party).

Bravo, then, Federico Colli. Keep wearing that cravat.

Here's a write-up from The Arts Desk. [UPDATE] Here are some more details about the prizes and their winners, from Pianist Magazine.

And here's Federico in the final of the Mozart Competition in Salzburg 2011:



Meanwhile, Louis has already had a Wigmore Hall debut. He seems to have dropped half his surname since then. It turns out that his father is a maker of animated films. Here's Louis himself, very animated indeed in a spot of Moszkowski.

Leeds Piano Competition Finals 1: the story so far

The lovely editor of Pianist Magazine, Erica Worth, is on location at the finals of the Leeds International Piano Competition. JD got her on the phone and asked what she thought of the first three finalists, who played their concerti last night. The second three - and the results - will follow tonight, and we'll hopefully get Erica's feedback for that as well, so stay tuned.

"The standard generally is astronomical," Erica says. "In my view, it's way higher than it was three years ago. Every pianist we've heard so far is a fully fledged musician - and any of them we'd happily buy a ticket to hear in a concert hall.

"I was deeply moved by the performance of the Beethoven Piano Concerto No.4, by Louis Schwizgebel [Switzerland] - a beautiful, sensitive account, very elegant - really someone to watch. Jiayan Sun [China] in Prokofiev's Second Concerto was technically very impressive, even if I wanted a bit more from it in terms of sheer hair-raising scariness. Jayson Gillham [Australia] in the Beethoven 'Emperor' Concerto seemed the least nervous and most at ease at the piano, sovreign in many ways, though in places the interpretation seemed a little too light and Mozartian for the piece."

Listen out for the final part 2 and the announcement of the prizes on BBC Radio 3 tonight. I'm still cross it's not live on TV, but will try to catch up with what there is on the iPlayer.