BBC Young Musician of the Year to be aired

The flagship bi-annual competition returns to BBC screens this Sunday.

The first episode of the competition are being aired this weekend

Friday, 02 October 2026

The bi-annual BBC Young Musician of the Year competition starts this Sunday with the first programme of the new series on BBC Four at 7.30pm.

Presented by Petroc Trelawny, it will be judged by conductor Ben Gernon, former winner Peter Moore and Joana MacGregor.

Auditions

The first two programme centre on the auditions that were held at Bath Spa University and meets competitors in each of the instrument categories — brass, keyboard, percussion, strings and woodwind. The winner of each will go through to the quarter final alongside three 'wild card' picks, with the final later in the year.

Former brass winners include Michael Hext (1978), David Pyatt (1988) and Peter Moore (2008), as well as percussionists Adrian Spillett (1998) and Jordan Ashman (2022).

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