# Eurovision Young Musicians 2008

The Eurovision Young Musicians 2008 was the fourteenth edition of the Eurovision Young Musicians, held at the Rathausplatz in Vienna, Austria, on 9 May 2008. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF), musicians from seven countries participated in the televised final. This was the second time that the competition was held on an open-air stage and was the beginning of the annual Vienna Festival. Austria and broadcaster ORF previously hosted the contest in 1990, 1998 and 2006.
A total of sixteen countries took part in the competition therefore a semi-final was held at the Theater an der Wien on 4 and 5 May 2008. All participants performed a classical piece of their choice accompanied by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Aleksandar Marković. Serbia (as an independent nation) and Ukraine made their début while Germany returned. Five countries decided not to participate, they were Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, and Switzerland, while Serbia and Montenegro had ceased to exist since 2006.
Dionysios Grammenos of Greece won the contest, with Finland and Norway placing second and third respectively. Grammenos is the first woodwind player to win the competition (previous winners have played piano, violin or cello). A new feature in 2008 was the audience prize, voted for by television viewers in the host country via SMS. The third prize winning Norwegian violinist Eldbjørg Hemsing was the winner of this public vote.

## Location

Rathausplatz, a square outside the Wiener Rathaus city hall of Vienna, was the host location for the 2008 edition of the Eurovision Young Musicians final. The Theater an der Wien, a theatre in Vienna, Austria, hosted the semi-final round.

## Format

Lidia Baich [de] and Christoph Wagner-Trenkwitz [de] were the hosts of the 2008 contest. The interval act was Angelika Kirchschlager performing "One Life to Live" alone and "We Dream Together" with the Vienna Boys' Choir.

## Results
### Semi-final

A total of sixteen countries took part in the semi-final round of the 2008 contest, of which seven qualified to the televised grand final.

#### Part 1 (4 May)

| R/O | Country | Broadcaster | Performer | Instrument | Piece(s) | R. |
| 1 | Croatia | HRT | Marin Maras | Violin | 1) Sonata in c minor (Largo-Allegro moderato) (Francesco Geminiani) 2) Scherzino (Franjo Krežma) 3) Zigeunerweisen, op.20 (Pablo de Sarasate) | DSQ |
| 2 | United Kingdom | BBC | Philip Achille | Harmonica | 1) Little Suite (James Moody) | Q |
| 3 | Austria | ORF | Sol Daniel Kim | Cello | 1) 1st Movement of the Sonata for Arpeggione and Piano (Franz Schubert) 2) Variations on a Theme by Rossini (Niccolò Paganini) | DSQ |
| 4 | Ukraine | NTU | Anna Fedorova | Piano | 1) Sonata, Op. 57, I mv. (Ludwig van Beethoven) 2) Trois Valses Opus 70 N1 (Frédéric Chopin) 3) Trois Valses Opus 34 N3 (Frédéric Chopin) | DSQ |
| 5 | Germany | WDR | Kathy Kang | Violin | 1) Sonata for violin and piano, 2. sentence - Allegro (César Franck) 2) Paganiniana (Nathan Milstein) | DSQ |
| 6 | Sweden | SVT | Maria Verbaite | Piano | 1) Sonate in C-Dur Hob. XVI:50 (Joseph Haydn) 2) Piano Study in Mixed Accents (Ruth Crawford Seeger) 3) Islamey: Oriental Fantasy (Mily Balakirev) | DSQ |
| 7 | Romania | TVR | Stefan Besan | Violin | 1) The Strolling Fiddler for Violin solo, from the Suite (George Enescu) 2) Impressions from childhood in D Major Op.28 (George Enescu) 3) Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso in A Minor, Op.28 for Violin and Piano (Camille Saint-Saëns) 4) Miniature for Violin and Piano (Gheorghe Neaga) | DSQ |
| 8 | Greece | ERT | Dionysios Grammenos | Clarinet | 1) Three Pieces for Clarinet solo (Igor Stravinsky) 2) Rigoletto Fantasia Di Concerto (Alamiro Giampieri) | Q |

#### Part 2 (5 May)

| R/O | Country | Broadcaster | Performer | Instrument | Piece | R. |
| 9 | Finland | Yle | Roope Gröhdahl | Piano | 1) Bagatelle G-Moll, Op. 119, No. 1 (Ludwig van Beethoven) 2) Piano Sonata Op. 1 (Alban Berg) 3) Toccata (Maurice Ravel) | Q |
| 10 | Netherlands | NPS | Steven Bourne | Cello | 1) Sonata for Cello and Piano (Claude Debussy) | Q |
| 11 | Slovenia | RTVSLO | Jan Gricar | Saxophone | 1) Fantasie sur un theme original (Jules Demersseman) 2) Aria and Improvisation (Blaž Pucihar) | Q |
| 12 | Norway | NRK | Eldbjørg Hemsing | Violin | 1) Tzigane (rapsodie de Concert) (Maurice Ravel) 2) Subito for violin and piano (Witold Lutosławski) | Q |
| 13 | Serbia | RTS | Mina Zakić | Cello | 1) Impromptu G-Dur, Op.90 (Franz Schubert) 2) Introduction et Polonaise Brillante, Op.3 (Frédéric Chopin) | DSQ |
| 14 | Cyprus | CyBC | Orfeas Hiratos | Clarinet | 1) Sonáta: Allegro (Franz Danzi) 2) Fantasiestuecke I (Robert Schumann) 3) 4 Miniatures: Nos 3 & 4 (Bruno Brun) | DSQ |
| 15 | Russia | RTR | Anastasia Kobekina | Cello | 1) Rondo (Luigi Boccherini) 2) Noktürn (Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky) 3) At the fountain op. 20/2 (Karl Davidov) | Q |
| 16 | Poland | TVP | Marta Kowalczyk | Violin | 1) Fantasie Brillante sur Gounod's "Faust" op.20 (Henryk Wieniawski) | DSQ |
* Kirchschlager performing on stage
* Winner, Dionysios Grammenos from Greece

### Final

Awards were given to the top three participants. The table below highlights these using gold, silver, and bronze. The placing results of the remaining participants is unknown and never made public by the European Broadcasting Union.
| R/O | Country | Performer | Instrument | Piece | Composer | Result |
| 1 | Slovenia | Jan Cricar | Saxophone | Pequeña Czarda | Pedro Iturralde | |
| 2 | Russia | Anastasia Kobekina | Cello | Cello Concerto in C Major, 1st mov. | Joseph Haydn | |
| 3 | United Kingdom | Philip Achille | Harmonica | Chromatic Harmonica Concerto, 1st mov. | Jascha Spivakovsky | |
| 4 | Finland | Roope Gröndahl | Piano | Piano Concerto in B-flat Minor, 3rd mov. | Peter Tchaikovsky | 2 |
| 5 | Greece | Dionysios Grammenos | Clarinet | Clarinet Concerto, 4th mov. | Jean Françaix | 1 |
| 6 | Netherlands | Steven Bourne | Cello | Elegie | Gabriel Fauré | |
| 7 | Norway | Eldbjørg Hemsing | Violin | Carmen Fantasie | Franz Waxman | 3 |

## Jury members

The jury members consisted of the following:

### Semi-final

* Netherlands – Jeanette de Boer
* Austria – Günter Voglmayr
* Austria – Franz Bartolomey [de]
* Austria – Ranko Marković
* Poland – Kaja Danczowska [pl]
* Poland – Jerzy Maksymiuk

### Final

* United Kingdom – Sir Roger Norrington (head)
* Austria – Ranko Markovic
* Netherlands/ Austria – Jeanette de Boer
* Norway – Lars Anders Tomter
* Austria – Günter Voglmayr
* United Kingdom – Alison Balsom

## Broadcasting

Broadcasters in 18 countries received the competition live via the Eurovision Network and broadcast it in their territories. The competition was broadcast also in Iceland and Lithuania in addition to the competing countries.