Barbican announces its music season for autumn 2021 barbican.org.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from barbican.org.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Sat 8 May 2021 07.30 EDT
Whether you attribute the mood of heightened emotion to the effects of lockdown, or to the exceptional quality of the playing, the 2020 BBC Young Musician final stood out as a golden year â even in the absence of a live audience. The three who made it to the last round â 18-year-old Annemarie Federle (French horn), 19-year-old Ewan Millar (oboe) and 17-year-old Fang Zhang (percussion) â have had to wait over a year for this grand denouement because of Covid. Virtuosic, poised, unflustered, they all deserve major careers.
Runners-up Annemarie Federle and Ewan Millar. Photograph: Fabio De Paola/PA
One pleasure of the final is seeing these young players encounter a professional symphony orchestra. Even reduced and distanced in Manchesterâs Bridgewater Hall, the BBC Philharmonic showed its responsive qualities, with conductor Mark Wigglesworth demanding but sympathetic with the soloists. Federleâs performance of Ruth Gippsâs Horn