BBC Young Musician

Alison Balsom is of course world-class, but I rather hope for a more impressive line-up of judges next time.

I so agree - the new format of the competition was unfortunate I feel. There used to be instrumental category rounds with judges who specialised in that category, and were world class players themselves. The use of regional rounds rather than categories rather sold the participants short I feel; and having the same 3 judges throughout was unwise, especially as, except in one case, their specific expertise was lacking. Hannah Catherine Jones is a performance artist and DJ with qualifications in fine art. The performers were vastly better qualified than she. But she ticked 2 boxes. I will say no more! I am sure she is brilliant at what she does, and have nothing against her personally, but that is no reason to have her judging this competition.

I am aware there has been a bit of a backlash about all this online and some excellent instrumental teachers are wondering if they will bother to prepare any students for 2026.

Also the schedule for broadcasts was slightly barmy. I was actually at the final and we were constantly exhorted to keep quiet about it until the broadcast weeks later -- broadcasting live might have been a better option!

But the young players were, as always, utterly brilliant of course.

Greyduster

I agree that something has been lost. It was better when they had different classes - woodwind, brass (where were all the brass players?), percussion (another Evelyn Glennie or Jordan Ashman out there surely?). It was too hurried and compressed for my liking.

My friend's son, Adrian Spillett won The Young Musician of the Year in 1998. He was the first percussionist to win BBC's YM. A professor of percussion now after an interesting career.

I wonder if Jess Gilham would have made into the final had she been one of this year's contestants.

Ryan Wang's performance was absolutely stunning, but I'd been rooting for Shlomi Shahaf, who moved me most in both the quarter and semi-finals.
Alison Balsom is of course world-class, but I rather hope for a more impressive line-up of judges next time.
Others whose careers I hope to follow are the violinist Maya and the cellist Hugo.

I agree that something has been lost. It was better when they had different classes - woodwind, brass (where were all the brass players?), percussion (another Evelyn Glennie or Jordan Ashman out there surely?). It was too hurried and compressed for my liking.

In my opinion , Ryan was a worthy winner.
Unfortunately , possibly due to trying to widen the appeal of classical music- something has been lost .
I would have liked to have seen a harpist in the final .
There was some fine cello playing too .
The choice of judges was poor .

I think what set Ryan apart was the absolute clarity of his playing. Despite the immense passion he put into his playing, not a note was lost to the ear.
I don’t like the new format, Ixion. I thought overall the range of instruments represented was rather narrow compared with previous years and I had the distinct impression at times that two of the judges were rather out of their depth.

A magical evening.

What do folk think of the new format?

I also watched the semi-final last week and there were several performers who could just as well have made the final - the quality was so high. I was disappointed that they didn't choose a young harpist for the final. But when there are three concertos to be played, only the very best three can get through. When it turned out that both pianists were to play the Rachmaninov, I thought I'd be bored, but Ryan's performance was different and spoke to me in ways that concerto never has done.

I was bowled over by all three contestants. All so young. When they announced that the two pianists were both going to play Rachmaninov 2nd Piano Concerto I was not looking forward to listening to it twice in one evening but the two interpretations were so different. The Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto was an intense emotional experience even on television and it must have been overwhelming live.

Ryan Wang was a worthy winner but the other two contestants were both brilliant.

All three were wonderful. I’m glad it was a unanimous vote by the judges because it must have been close.

Three very talented young people. The winner engaged so beautifully with the orchestra and that gave him the edge.

Yes ,an incredibly beautiful programme. I couldn’t bear to find out who the winner was: they were all so good.

I watched it last night. I too am full of admiration for the talent we’ve seen throughout. It was a shame that there could not have been two winners because the violinist was extraordinary, but I can’t take anything away from the winner. He had me in tears and at the end I leapt out of my chair and applauded! 17 years old! I remember when Freddie Kempf won it in 1992 playing the same piece. He was only 15 and went on to have a stellar career. I hope Ryan does the same.