Eurovision Young Musicians 2008

The Eurovision Young Musicians 2008 was the fourteenth edition of the Eurovision Young Musicians, held at the Rathausplatz in Vienna, Austria, on 9 May 2008.^[1] Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF), musicians from seven countries participated in the televised final. This was the second time that the competition was held on an open-air stage and was the beginning of the annual Vienna Festival. Austria and broadcaster ORF previously hosted the contest in 1990, 1998 and 2006.^[1]

Eurovision Young Musicians 2008
Dates
Semi-final 1	4 May 2008
Semi-final 2	5 May 2008
Final	9 May 2008
Host
Venue	Theater an der Wien (s-f) Rathausplatz (final) Vienna, Austria
Presenter(s)	Lidia Baich [de] Christoph Wagner-Trenkwitz [de]
Executive producer	Michael Heinzl
Director	Heidelinde Haschek
Musical director	Aleksandar Markovic
Executive supervisor	Tal Barnea
Host broadcaster	Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF)
Website	youngmusicians.tv
Participants
Number of entries	16
Number of finalists	7
Debuting countries	Serbia  Ukraine
Returning countries	Germany
Non-returning countries	Belgium  Bulgaria  Czech Republic  Serbia and Montenegro   Switzerland
Participation map      Finalist countries     Countries eliminated in the semi-final     Countries that participated in the past but not in 2008
Vote
Voting system	Each juror awarded a mark from 1–10 to each performer
Winning musician	Greece Dionysis Grammenos
2006 ← Eurovision Young Musicians → 2010

A total of sixteen countries took part in the competition therefore a semi-final was held at the Theater an der Wien on 4 and 5 May 2008. All participants performed a classical piece of their choice accompanied by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Aleksandar Marković.^[1] Serbia (as an independent nation) 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.^[1]

Dionysios Grammenos of Greece won the contest, with Finland and Norway placing second and third respectively. 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. The third prize winning Norwegian violinist Eldbjørg Hemsing was the winner of this public vote.^[2]

Location

Further information on the host city: Vienna

The final was held on the opening night of Vienna Festival 2008.

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.^[1]

Format

Lidia Baich [de] and Christoph Wagner-Trenkwitz [de] 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.^[1]

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.^[1]

Part 1 (4 May)

R/O	Country	Broadcaster	Performer	Instrument	Piece(s)	R.
1	Croatia	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)	DSQ
2	United Kingdom	BBC	Philip Achille	Harmonica	1) Little Suite (James Moody)	Q
3	Austria	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)	DSQ
4	Ukraine	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)	DSQ
5	Germany	WDR	Kathy Kang	Violin	1) Sonata for violin and piano, 2. sentence - Allegro (César Franck) 2) Paganiniana (Nathan Milstein)	DSQ
6	Sweden	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)	DSQ
7	Romania	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)	DSQ
8	Greece	ERT	Dionysios 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	Finland	Yle	Roope Gröhdahl	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	Netherlands	NPS	Steven Bourne	Cello	1) Sonata for Cello and Piano (Claude Debussy)	Q
11	Slovenia	RTVSLO	Jan Gricar	Saxophone	1) Fantasie sur un theme original (Jules Demersseman) 2) Aria and Improvisation (Blaž Pucihar)	Q
12	Norway	NRK	Eldbjørg Hemsing	Violin	1) Tzigane (rapsodie de Concert) (Maurice Ravel) 2) Subito for violin and piano (Witold Lutosławski)	Q
13	Serbia	RTS	Mina Zakić	Cello	1) Impromptu G-Dur, Op.90 (Franz Schubert) 2) Introduction et Polonaise Brillante, Op.3 (Frédéric Chopin)	DSQ
14	Cyprus	CyBC	Orfeas Hiratos	Clarinet	1) Sonáta: Allegro (Franz Danzi) 2) Fantasiestuecke I (Robert Schumann) 3) 4 Miniatures: Nos 3 & 4 (Bruno Brun)	DSQ
15	Russia	RTR	Anastasia Kobekina	Cello	1) Rondo (Luigi Boccherini) 2) Noktürn (Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky) 3) At the fountain op. 20/2 (Karl Davidov)	Q
16	Poland	TVP	Marta Kowalczyk	Violin	1) Fantasie Brillante sur Gounod's "Faust" op.20 (Henryk Wieniawski)	DSQ

• 
  Kirchschlager performing on stage
• 
  Winner, Dionysios 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.^[2]

R/O	Country	Performer	Instrument	Piece	Composer	Result
1	Slovenia	Jan Cricar	Saxophone	Pequeña Czarda	Pedro Iturralde
2	Russia	Anastasia Kobekina	Cello	Cello Concerto in C Major, 1st mov.	Joseph Haydn
3	United Kingdom	Philip Achille	Harmonica	Chromatic Harmonica Concerto, 1st mov.	Jascha Spivakovsky
4	Finland	Roope Gröndahl	Piano	Piano Concerto in B-flat Minor, 3rd mov.	Peter Tchaikovsky	2
5	Greece	Dionysios Grammenos	Clarinet	Clarinet Concerto, 4th mov.	Jean Françaix	1
6	Netherlands	Steven Bourne	Cello	Elegie	Gabriel Fauré
7	Norway	Eldbjørg Hemsing	Violin	Carmen Fantasie	Franz Waxman	3

Jury members

The jury members consisted of the following:^[1]

Semi-final

•  Netherlands – Jeanette de Boer
•  Austria – Günter Voglmayr
•  Austria – Franz Bartolomey [de]
•  Austria – Ranko Marković
•  Poland – Kaja Danczowska [pl]
•  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]

Broadcasters in participating countries

Country	Broadcaster(s)
Austria	ORF
Croatia	HRT
Cyprus	CyBC
Finland	Yle
Germany	WDR
Greece	ERT
Netherlands	NPS
Norway	NRK
Poland	TVP
Romania	TVR
Russia	KTVC
Serbia	RTS
Slovenia	RTVSLO
Sweden	SVT
Ukraine	NTU
United Kingdom	BBC

Broadcasters in non-participating countries

Country	Broadcaster
Iceland	RÚV
Lithuania	LRT

See also

• Eurovision Song Contest 2008
• Eurovision Dance Contest 2008
• Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008