BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme
BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme (also known as the NGA scheme) was launched in 1999 by Adam Gatehouse as part of the BBC's commitment to young musical talent. 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. Since 2006 a jazz artist has also been invited every other year. 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 International Festival and the BBC Proms. They also regularly appear at the Edinburgh Festival, Aldeburgh Festival, East Neuk Festival, Gregynog Festival, Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music and the York Early Music Festival. Artists also appear at London's Wigmore Hall in the Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert series, as well as at The Sage Gateshead and other UK concert venues. 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. There have also been co-productions with Harmonia Mundi, Decca, BIS, Sony Classical, Onyx, Signum and Basho Music, while a number of New Generation Artists have also featured on "BBC Music Magazine" cover CDs. Specialist artists. In 2006 Welsh pianist Gwilym Simcock was invited as the first jazz artist to join the New Generation Artists scheme. This continues every other year with jazz trumpeter Tom Arthurs joining in 2008 and jazz reeds player Shabaka Hutchings in 2010. 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. On 26 September 2012 seven new artists were announced which included the scheme's first guitarist Sean Shibe. Young Musician of the Year relationship. Several New Generation Artists are also former participants in the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition. 10th Anniversary weekend. 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.