Pianist Ryan Wang wins BBC Young Musician 2024

Published: October 20, 2024 — Seventeen-year-old pianist Ryan Wang, from Vancouver, Canada and a student on a music scholarship at Eton College, Windsor is the winner of BBC Young Musician 2024.

The competition’s Grand Final was broadcast on BBC TV, iPlayer, BBC Radio 3 and BBC Sounds, presented by saxophonist and broadcaster Jess Gillam – a BBC Young Musician finalist herself in 2016.

Ryan started playing piano aged four and was only five when he performed his first solo recital at Carnegie Hall. He received his Artist Diploma at the École Normale de Musique de Paris in France in May 2024, being the youngest ever to win the Prix Cortot. Other recent highlights include being in the Fondation Louis Vuitton’s New Generation Piano series 2022-2023, and receiving the First Prize and audience award in the 18th Animato International Chopin Competition in February 2024.

At the Grand Final, Ryan performed one of the most popular works in the piano repertoire, Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto, accompanied by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Ben Gernon.

He impressed the judging panel, comprising trumpeter Alison Balsom, pianist and composer Alexis Ffrench, and multi-instrumentalist and broadcaster Hannah Catherine Jones.

Ryan Wang says: “I’m so honoured to be writing to you as the winner of BBC Young Musician 2024. This journey has been incredible. I still can’t believe this is all happening! I have enjoyed sharing my music with you all so much and I am so grateful for all the support I have received! This competition experience has been so amazing and I have been so fortunate to meet such incredible musicians. I am so excited to continue to share my musical journey with audiences, and hope to see you all in concert someday!”

On Ryan’s performance at the Grand Final, Alison Balsom says: “Ryan Wang is a truly remarkable musician. He has an extremely rare ability to communicate something other-worldly – and embody the music. I don’t think even he understands quite how he does it! In the final it was abundantly clear to all of us that he was creating a kind of magic. He generously raised the game of the orchestra too, and alongside his flawless technique, he was able to reveal his soul with such honesty. We felt we were witnessing one of the great historical performances of Rach 2. Granted – there are a handful of others who can also achieve this, but it’s exhilarating on any level to hear a teenager express this level of artistry.”

The BBC Young Musician 2024 Grand Final was filmed on Tuesday 24 September at Bristol Beacon. It also featured exceptional performances by BBC Young Musician 2024 finalists violinist Shlomi Shahaf (17), born in Israel and raised in Ukraine, currently studying at the Purcell School, and Jacky Zhang (16) from Surrey, a piano and composition student at the Royal College of Music.

Suzy Klein, BBC Head of Arts and Classical Music TV, says: “Yet again, the BBC Young Musician competition has been an opportunity to revel in the breathtaking talent of some of the finest musicians living in the UK, displaying technique, emotion and wisdom far beyond their years. Our warmest congratulations to Ryan and to all the BBC Young Musician finalists and competitors, and I’d also like to extend our thanks to the players of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and conductor Ben Gernon for their creativity and support of our finalists. If the success of previous competition winners is anything to go by, Ryan can look forward to a glittering career of music-making, both in the UK and on the international stage. Audiences at home should prepare for fireworks and ferocious talent on display, as they enjoy our coverage on BBC Two, BBC Four, iPlayer BBC Radio 3 and Sounds.”

Ryan Wang follows in the footsteps of twenty-year-old percussionist Jordan Ashman, from Milton, Cambridgeshire, who won the BBC Young Musician title in October 2022.

Previous BBC Young Musician winners include celebrated classical music stars such as cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, violinist Nicola Benedetti, and clarinettist Mark Simpson.

Also returning in Autumn 2024 in its 10th Anniversary year is BBC Young Jazz Musician, focusing on some of the most talented up-and-coming musicians and singers on the British jazz scene. During the final, taking place at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall on Saturday 23 November as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival and broadcast on BBC TV later in the Autumn, four finalists will compete for the title, all hoping to follow in the footsteps of BBC Young Jazz Musician 2022 winner double bassist Ewan Hastie.

BBC Young Musician 2024 and BBC Young Jazz Musician 2024 are managed and produced by BBC Studios Music and Entertainment Wales and the Commissioning Editor is Stephen James-Yeoman.