Eurovision Young Musicians 2008
International youth classical music contest
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The Eurovision Young Musicians 2008 was the 14th edition of the Eurovision Young Musicians. It consisted of two semi-finals on 4 and 5 May, held at Theater an der Wien, and a final on 9 May 2008, held at the Rathausplatz in Vienna, Austria, and presented by Lidia Baich and Christoph Wagner-Trenkwitz. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF). The Vienna Symphony Orchestra conducted by Aleksandar Marković accompanied all competing performers. This was the second time that the competition was held on an open-air stage and was the beginning of the annual Vienna Festival. ORF had previously hosted the contest in Austria in 1990, 1998, and 2006.
- 4 May 2008
- 5 May 2008
- Theater an der Wien
Vienna, Austria
- 9 May 2008
- Rathausplatz
Vienna, Austria
| Eurovision Young Musicians 2008 | |
|---|---|
| Dates and venues | |
| Semi-final 1 |
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| Semi-final 2 |
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| Final |
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| Organisation | |
| Organiser | European Broadcasting Union (EBU) |
| Executive supervisor | Tal Barnea |
| Production | |
| Host broadcaster | Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF) |
| Director | Heidelinde Haschek |
| Executive producer | Michael Heinzl |
| Musical director | Aleksandar Markovic |
| Presenters | Lidia Baich Christoph Wagner-Trenkwitz |
| Participants | |
| Number of entries | 16 |
| Number of finalists | 7 |
| Debuting countries |
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| Returning countries | |
| Non-returning countries |
|
| |
| Vote | |
| Voting system | Each juror awarded a mark from 1–10 to each performer |
| Winning musician | Dionysis Grammenos |
Musicians representing sixteen countries took part in the competition, with seven of them participating in the televised final. Serbia (as an independent country) and Ukraine made their début while Germany returned. Five countries decided not to participate, they were Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, and Switzerland, while Serbia and Montenegro had ceased to exist since 2006.
The winner was clarinetist Dionysis Grammenos representing Greece, with pianist Roope Gröndahl representing Finland placing second, and violinist Eldbjørg Hemsing representing Norway placing third. Grammenos is the first woodwind player to win the competition (previous winners have played piano, violin, or cello). A new feature in 2008 was the audience prize, voted for by television viewers in the host country via SMS. Hemsing was the winner of this public vote.[1]
Location

Rathausplatz, a square outside the Wiener Rathaus city hall of Vienna, was the host location for the 2008 edition of the Eurovision Young Musicians final. The Theater an der Wien, a theatre in Vienna, Austria, hosted the semi-final round.[2]
Format
Lidia Baich and Christoph Wagner-Trenkwitz were the hosts of the 2008 contest. The interval act was Angelika Kirchschlager performing "One Life to Live" alone and "We Dream Together" with the Vienna Boys' Choir.[2]
Participants and results
Semi-final
A total of sixteen countries took part in the semi-final round of the 2008 contest, of which seven qualified to the televised grand final.[2]
Part 1 (4 May)
| R/O | Country | Broadcaster | Performer | Instrument | Piece(s) | R. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | HRT | Marin Maras | Violin | 1) Sonata in c minor (Largo-Allegro moderato) (Francesco Geminiani) 2) Scherzino (Franjo Krežma) 3) Zigeunerweisen, op.20 (Pablo de Sarasate) |
N/a | |
| 2 | BBC | Philip Achille | Harmonica | 1) Little Suite (James Moody) | Q | |
| 3 | ORF | Sol Daniel Kim | Cello | 1) 1st Movement of the Sonata for Arpeggione and Piano (Franz Schubert) 2) Variations on a Theme by Rossini (Niccolò Paganini) |
N/a | |
| 4 | NTU | Anna Fedorova | Piano | 1) Sonata, Op. 57, I mv. (Ludwig van Beethoven) 2) Trois Valses Opus 70 N1 (Frédéric Chopin) 3) Trois Valses Opus 34 N3 (Frédéric Chopin) |
N/a | |
| 5 | WDR | Kathy Kang | Violin | 1) Sonata for violin and piano, 2. sentence - Allegro (César Franck) 2) Paganiniana (Nathan Milstein) |
N/a | |
| 6 | SVT | Maria Verbaite | Piano | 1) Sonate in C-Dur Hob. XVI:50 (Joseph Haydn) 2) Piano Study in Mixed Accents (Ruth Crawford Seeger) 3) Islamey: Oriental Fantasy (Mily Balakirev) |
N/a | |
| 7 | TVR | Stefan Besan | Violin | 1) The Strolling Fiddler for Violin solo, from the Suite (George Enescu) 2) Impressions from childhood in D Major Op.28 (George Enescu) 3) Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso in A Minor, Op.28 for Violin and Piano (Camille Saint-Saëns) 4) Miniature for Violin and Piano (Gheorghe Neaga) |
N/a | |
| 8 | ERT | Dionysis Grammenos | Clarinet | 1) Three Pieces for Clarinet solo (Igor Stravinsky) 2) Rigoletto Fantasia Di Concerto (Alamiro Giampieri) |
Q |
Part 2 (5 May)
| R/O | Country | Broadcaster | Performer | Instrument | Piece | R. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | Yle | Roope Gröndahl | Piano | 1) Bagatelle G-Moll, Op. 119, No. 1 (Ludwig van Beethoven) 2) Piano Sonata Op. 1 (Alban Berg) 3) Toccata (Maurice Ravel) |
Q | |
| 10 | NPS | Steven Bourne | Cello | 1) Sonata for Cello and Piano (Claude Debussy) | Q | |
| 11 | RTVSLO | Jan Gricar | Saxophone | 1) Fantasie sur un theme original (Jules Demersseman) 2) Aria and Improvisation (Blaž Pucihar) |
Q | |
| 12 | NRK | Eldbjørg Hemsing | Violin | 1) Tzigane (rapsodie de Concert) (Maurice Ravel) 2) Subito for violin and piano (Witold Lutosławski) |
Q | |
| 13 | RTS | Mina Zakić | Cello | 1) Impromptu G-Dur, Op.90 (Franz Schubert) 2) Introduction et Polonaise Brillante, Op.3 (Frédéric Chopin) |
N/a | |
| 14 | CyBC | Orfeas Hiratos | Clarinet | 1) Sonáta: Allegro (Franz Danzi) 2) Fantasiestuecke I (Robert Schumann) 3) 4 Miniatures: Nos 3 & 4 (Bruno Brun) |
N/a | |
| 15 | RTR | Anastasia Kobekina | Cello | 1) Rondo (Luigi Boccherini) 2) Noktürn (Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky) 3) At the fountain op. 20/2 (Karl Davidov) |
Q | |
| 16 | TVP | Marta Kowalczyk | Violin | 1) Fantasie Brillante sur Gounod's "Faust" op.20 (Henryk Wieniawski) | N/a |
- Kirchschlager performing on stage
- Winner, Dionysis Grammenos from Greece
Final
Awards were given to the top three participants. The table below highlights these using gold, silver, and bronze. The placing results of the remaining participants is unknown and never made public by the European Broadcasting Union.[1]
| R/O | Country | Performer | Instrument | Piece | Composer | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jan Cricar | Saxophone | Pequeña Czarda | Pedro Iturralde | ||
| 2 | Anastasia Kobekina | Cello | Cello Concerto in C Major, 1st mov. | Joseph Haydn | ||
| 3 | Philip Achille | Harmonica | Chromatic Harmonica Concerto, 1st mov. | Jascha Spivakovsky | ||
| 4 | Roope Gröndahl | Piano | Piano Concerto in B-flat Minor, 3rd mov. | Peter Tchaikovsky | 2 | |
| 5 | Dionysis Grammenos | Clarinet | Clarinet Concerto, 4th mov. | Jean Françaix | 1 | |
| 6 | Steven Bourne | Cello | Elegie | Gabriel Fauré | ||
| 7 | Eldbjørg Hemsing | Violin | Carmen Fantasie | Franz Waxman | 3 |
Jury members
The jury members consisted of the following:[2]
Semi-final
Netherlands – Jeanette de Boer
Austria – Günter Voglmayr
Austria – Franz Bartolomey
Austria – Ranko Marković
Poland – Kaja Danczowska
Poland – Jerzy Maksymiuk
Final
United Kingdom – Sir Roger Norrington (head)
Austria – Ranko Markovic
Netherlands/
Austria – Jeanette de Boer
Norway – Lars Anders Tomter
Austria – Günter Voglmayr
United Kingdom – Alison Balsom
Broadcasting
Broadcasters in 18 countries received the competition live via the Eurovision Network and broadcast it in their territories. The competition was broadcast also in Iceland and Lithuania in addition to the competing countries.[3] Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.
| Country | Broadcaster(s) | Channel(s) | Commentator(s) | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORF | ORF 2 | |||
| HRT | ||||
| CyBC | ||||
| Yle | Yle Teema | [4][5] | ||
| ARD (WDR) | WDR Fernsehen[a] | [6] | ||
| 3sat[b] | [7] | |||
| ERT | ET1 | Alexis Kostalas | ||
| NPS | ||||
| NRK | NRK1 | [8] | ||
| TVP | ||||
| TVR | TVR Cultural | Alexandru Tomescu | [9] | |
| RTR | KTVC | |||
| RTS | ||||
| RTVSLO | ||||
| SVT | SVT2[c] | [10] | ||
| NTU | ||||
| BBC | BBC Four[d] | Nicola Loud | [11][12] | |
