BBC Radio 3 has announced the latest batch of young featured classical musicians to join the New Generation Artists scheme. Performances will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and across Europe through December 2027.
Founded in 1999, New Generation Artists celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. Aiming to support young instrumentalists, singers, and ensembles at the start of their international careers, the scheme has produced over 150 alumni, including violinist Janine Jansen and pianist Igor Levit.
This round for 2025–27 welcomes several prominent young artists. Austrian pianist Lukas Sternath recently made an appearance at Wigmore Hall with his mentor Levit in a two-piano date. Described as a “remarkable talent”, his solo performance of Prokofiev’s Seventh Sonata was “dynamically sensitive”.
Also part of this newly announced NGA cohort is British baritone Andrew Hamilton, currently with the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. Past performances in Barrie Kosky’s Agrippina were well received by our reviewer: “Submissive and playfully quick, Andrew Hamilton impressed as the servant Lesbo.” He sings in Belshazzar’s Feast with Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra this month.
Russian-American soprano Erika Baikoff has also made several appearances with the Staatsoper in Munich, with her turn as one of The Magic Flute’s Three Ladies called “a standout highlight of the performance” by our reviewer. Her performance in Mahler’s Fourth Symphony with the Ulster Orchestra was likewise “seraphically poignant”.
Ukrainian clarinettist Oleg Shebeta-Dragan also joins the NGA scheme this round. A winner of the Carl Nielsen Competition, his recent release of Busoni, Francaix, Milhaud and Nielson concertos on the label Orchid was very positively received by editor Mark Pullinger: “Exceptionally fine… With his warm tone, Shebeta-Dragan is a splendid advocate [for the Busoni Clarinet Concertino] with playing of grace and fluidity.”
Other new additions to the NGA scheme include London-based Astatine Trio (pianist Berniya Hamie, violinist Maja Horvat, and cellist Riya Hamie) and the NOVO Quartet (violinists Kaya Kato Møller and Nikolai Vasili Nedergaard, violist Daniel Śledziński, and cellist Signe Ebstrup Bitsch), based between Copenhagen and Vienna.
Both groups are well-decorated, with the former receiving prizes at Graz and Birmingham, the latter at Geneva, Heidelberg, Carl Nielsen, and Trondheim chamber music competitions.
These new additions join the existing New Generation Artists cohort – including German pianist Julius Asal, US violinist Hana Chang and British ensemble the Kleio Quartet – whose BBC Radio 3 broadcasts will continue until 2026.
