Eurovision Young Musicians 2008

The Eurovision Young Musicians 2008 was the fourteenth edition of the Eurovision Young Musicians, held at the Rathausplatz in Vienna, Austria on 9 May 2008. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF), musicians from seven countries participated in the televised final. This was the first time that the competition was held on a open air stage and was the beginning of the annual Vienna Festival. Austria and broadcaster ORF previously hosted the contest in 1990, 1998 and 2006.

Contents

• Location
• Format
• Semi final
• Final
• Jury members
• References

A total of sixteen countries took part in the competition therefore a semi-final was held at the Theater an der Wien on 4 and 5 May 2008. All participants performed a classical piece of their choice accompanied by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Aleksandar Markovic. Serbia and Ukraine made their début while Germany returned. Five countries withdrew to the contest, they were Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Serbia and Montenegro and Switzerland.

Dionysios Grammenos of Greece won the contest, with Finland and Norway placing second and third respectively. Grammenos is the first woodwind player to win the competition (previous winners have played piano, violin or cello). A new feature in 2008 was the audience prize, voted for by television viewers in the host country via SMS. The third prize winning Norwegian violinist Eldbjørg Hemsing was the winner of this public vote.