BBC Radio 3 has announced the seven artists that will be taking part in its prestigious New Generation Artists from 2015-2017. They are clarinettist Annelien Van Wauwe, pianist Beatrice Rana, tenor Ilker Arcayürek, mezzo Kathryn Rudge, jazz trumpeter Laura Jurd, trombonist Peter Moore and the Van Kuijk String Quartet.
The New Generation Artist Scheme was launched in 1999 and is intended to support young musicians who are embarking on an international career to reach the next stage of their development, by offering them performance and broadcast opportunities.
This year’s intake include three UK artists, including former BBC Young Musician of the Year Peter Moore, who was also appointed the youngest ever member of the London Symphony Orchestra in 2014. Fellow Brit Laura Jurd, a graduate of the National Youth Jazz Collective, is acclaimed for her improvisation and composition, and has released two solo discs featuring new works. Liverpudlian mezzo-soprano Katheryn Rudge made her debut with English National Opera as Cherubino in Mozart's Marriage of Figaro in 2011, and has since performed with Glyndbourne Touring Opera and Opera North.
Annelien Van Wauwe, from Belgium, studied historical clarinet in Paris and Germany, and has performed as a soloist with orchestras across Europe, while the Italian pianist Beatrice Rana recently made her concerto recording debut with the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and conductor Antonio Pappano - she is interviewed in the current issue of BBC Music Magazine. Born in Istanbul, Ilker Arcayürek grew up in Vienna and sang with the Mozart Boys Choir. He is an ensemble member at the Staatheater Nürnberg, and was a finalist in the Song Prize at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.
The only ensemble in this intake of NGAs, meanwhile, is the French Van Kujik Quartet, who first played together in 2012. They won the 2015 Wigmore Hall String Quartet Competition, and are ensemble-in-residence at Proquartet, Paris.
Former NGAs include soprano Alice Coote, tenor Ben Johnson, harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani, and clarinetist Mark Simpson, among many other similarly well-known names.
The New Generation Artists for 2015-2017 are:
Annelien Van Wauwe, Clarinet (Belgium)
Beatrice Rana, Piano (Italy)
Ilker Arcayürek, Tenor (Turkey)
Kathryn Rudge, Mezzo-Soprano (UK)
Laura Jurd, Jazz Trumpet (UK)
Peter Moore, Trombone (UK)
Van Kuijk Quartet, (France)