The 17-year-old Chinese-born musician triumphed at final delayed a year by pandemic
A 17-year-old percussionist has been crowned BBC’s Young Musician 2020. Fang Zhang, born in China’s Henan province and a recent student of Chetham’s School of Music, Manchester, was revealed as the winner of the competition’s grand final on Sunday 2 May, following its broadcast on BBC Four and BBC Radio 3.
The final of the biennial competition was delayed by a year because of the pandemic, and was filmed without an audience at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall on 25 April. Three finalists each played a concerto with the BBC Philharmonic under conductor Mark Wigglesworth; competing alongside Fang Zhang were 18-year-old French horn player Annemarie Federle and 19-year-old oboist Ewan Millar.
