YCAT marks 40 years

The Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) is set to mark its 40^th anniversary with a celebratory concert at London’s Wigmore Hall. The charity is celebrating four decades of supporting early-career classical musicians with a European tour in February 2025, the highlight of which will be the concert at Wigmore Hall on 12 February.

The Wigmore concert will open with the UK premiere of a new composition by James B. Wilson, YCAT’s inaugural Composer Fellow, before featuring large-scale chamber works including Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Nonet, Op. 2 and Schubert’s Octet in F Major, D.803.

The programme will be performed by an ensemble of YCAT artists past and present, including violist Timothy Ridout, violinists Hana Chang and Sini Simonen, cellist Maciej Kulakowski, double bass player Dominic Seldis, oboist Armand Djikoloum, clarinetist Jonathan Leibovitz, basoonist Amy Harman, pianist James Baillieu and French horn player Ben Goldscheider.

The anniversary tour will launch on 7 February at Schloss Elmau in Bavaria, before visiting the Tauberphilharmonie in Weikersheim (9 February), Philharmonie in Köln (10 February), Wigmore Hall, then Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw (14 February) and Berlin’s Boulez Saal (15 February).

The tour celebrates YCAT’s work supporting the next generation of international musicians through guidance and advice, plus support including a strategic diary of engagements, three to five years of artist management, marketing exposure, publicity materials and photo shoots, social media and website consultation and live recordings of recitals.