BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme

[1][2] Each autumn six or seven young artists at the beginning of careers on the national and international music scenes join the scheme for a two-year period.

The artists are given performance opportunities, including Radio 3 studio recordings, appearances and recordings with the BBC Orchestras and appearances at several music festivals, including the Cheltenham Music Festival and the BBC Proms.

[3] As part of the scheme Radio 3 has also collaborated with record companies, including nine co-production CDs with EMI Debut series, three of which (Belcea Quartet, Simon Trpceski and Jonathan Lemalu) have won Gramophone Awards for the best Debut CD of the year.

In 2008 Iranian harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani joined as the scheme's first artist playing an early instrument, though he has also made a serious mark as an interpreter of 20th-century music and newly commissioned compositions.

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the New Generation Artists scheme, over fifty New Generation Artists past and present performed 12 concerts during the bank holiday weekend Saturday 29th - Monday 31 August at the Cadogan Hall in London, as part of the 2009 BBC Proms.