The Eurovision Young Musicians 2018 was the nineteenth edition of the Eurovision Young Musicians contest. It was hosted by the United Kingdom, for the first time since the inaugural contest in . This edition was a co-production between the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the Edinburgh International Festival and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) as host broadcaster. Musicians representing eighteen countries with EBU membership participated in the contest, with making their debut alongside seven returning countries, while decided not to participate for the first time.
The final concert took place at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh on 23 August 2018, with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under their principal conductor Thomas Dausgaard. It was produced by BBC Cymru Wales for broadcast by BBC Scotland and BBC Radio 3, with Petroc Trelawny and Josie d'Arby being the presenters for the show. Ivan Bessonov of Russia won the contest, marking the country's first win in the competition and the first pianist to win since Poland's Stanisław Drzewiecki in .
Location
Usher Hall, the venue for the final, is a concert hall situated on Lothian Road, in the west end of Edinburgh, Scotland. It has hosted concerts and events since its construction in 1914 and can hold approximately 2,900 people in its recently restored auditorium, which is well loved by performers due to its acoustics. The Hall is flanked by The Royal Lyceum Theatre on the right and The Traverse Theatre on the left. Historic Scotland has registered the Hall with Category A listed building status.
The hall previously hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 1972 after , which won the year before, was unable to provide a suitable venue. The last time the United Kingdom hosted a Eurovision network contest was the Eurovision Dance Contest 2008 in Glasgow.
Bidding phase
According to an earlier statement by Vladislav Yakovlev, the former executive supervisor of the event, Budapest could host the 2018 contest after bidding for the 2016 edition. On 27 October 2016, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) launched a call to submit applications for the competition.
Host city announcement
In early October 2017, Norwegian broadcaster Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) confirmed in an online article regarding its national selection Virtuos, that the United Kingdom would host this edition of the contest in August 2018. On 30 October 2017, the EBU announced that this edition of the contest would be held in Edinburgh between 16 and 24 of August 2018.
Format
The semi-final round returned in 2018, produced by BBC Radio 3 in the form of public chamber recitals, at the Studio of the Edinburgh Festival Theatre on 18 and 19 August 2018.
Presenters
On 6 August 2018, it was announced that Petroc Trelawny and Josie D'Arby would host the 2018 competition. Trelawny’s career started at BBC Radio Devon in 1989 as a reporter, before he made his transition to a career in classical music radio and television during the 1990s. Since 1998 he has been a presenter at BBC Radio 3, and is the face of classical magazine programme Music Matters, Radio 3’s Breakfast and concerts in Radio 3 Live in Concert. D’Arby started on Children's BBC (CBBC) in the 1990s before becoming the youngest woman to have her own chat show, Josie, in 1999 on Channel 5. She has co-presented a number of cultural programs for the BBC including; Young Musician of the Year since 2012, Cardiff Singer of the World since 2009, Songs of Praise since 2014 and Young Choir of the Year (2018). Her acting credits include playing series regular WPC Jodie Finn, in BBC One drama Merseybeat from 2002–04. On 11 August 2018, it was revealed that the semi-finals would be hosted by Trelawny, with D'Arby joining him in the final.
Jury members
The winner of the competition was decided by an international panel of classical music luminaries. On 10 August 2018, the EBU announced the jurors of the competition. The judges for the semi-finals are British bassoonist Ursula Leveaux, Spanish percussionist Noè Roderigo Gisbert, Korean pianist Sinae Lee, and the chair cellist and conductor David Watkin. Joining Watkin's at the final were American conductor and violinist Marin Alsop, composer and performer Anna Meredith, Scottish classical composer and conductor James MacMillan and Head of Music for the Edinburgh International Festival, Andrew Moore.
Voting
Altogether there are two set of juries: one for the two days of semi-finals and one for the final. In both juries, each juror was to independently rate each performer a score from 1–10 points. The following criteria were taken into account by the jurors in the semi-finals and finals: