Julian Lloyd Webber celebrates 30 brilliant classical musicians under 30

22 February 2021, 16:46 | Updated: 13 July 2022, 17:24

Julian Lloyd Webber celebrates 30 classical musicians under 30 on Classic FM. Picture: Jake Turney / Simon Fowler / Warner / Andrej Grilc

Conductor and former cellist Julian Lloyd Webber’s 2021 programme features 30 of the most brilliant young classical musicians playing today.

World-famous conductor and former cellist Julian Lloyd Webber is joining Classic FM to present an exciting new series celebrating 30 brilliant classical musicians under 30.

Starting Sunday 28 February 2021, Julian Lloyd Webber’s Rising Stars showcases the careers of 30 incredible musicians who, before reaching their fourth decade, have graced the world’s best concert halls, recorded acclaimed albums and already made waves in the classical music world.

“I recognise the emptiness that so many talented young musicians will have felt over the past year, and the frustration that all their hours of practice have failed to result in public concerts,” Lloyd Webber wrote in the Sunday Telegraph. “I will be focusing on some of the many brilliant musicians both here and abroad.”

Featuring six artists a week, for five weeks, Lloyd Webber explores their contribution to classical music so far through recordings of their fine performances.

Musicians featured in the series include star pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, guitarist Sean Shibe, pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason and her brother, cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, and British-Italian tenor, Freddie De Tommaso.

Newer names on the scene, including violinist Randall Goosby and 13-year-old child prodigy Christian Li also make an appearance. The full list of the ‘30 under 30’ classical musicians can be found below.

Lloyd Webber previously appeared on Classic FM to present a fascinating celebration of Elgar’s beloved Cello Concerto, when the piece turned 100 in October 2019.

Julian Lloyd Webber’s ‘30 under 30’ classical artists

Benjamin Grosvenor

Benjamin Grosvenor is a 28-year-old pianist who, in 2011, became then the youngest ever person, and first pianist in 60 years, to sign with iconic record label Decca Classics.
Edgar Moreau

Edgar Moreau is a French cellist who, at 26, is already signed to Warner Classics with numerous recordings and prestigious concert appearances under his belt.
Junhong Kuang

Junhong Kuang is a young Chinese guitarist who’s already debuted at New York’s famous Carnegie Hall, and performed with the Bavarian Radio, Estonian National and Peabody Symphony Orchestras.
Esther Abrami

Violinist and influencer Esther Abrami just signed exclusively to Sony Classical and recently won an award from YouTube for her channel.
Lucienne Renaudin Vary

Lucienne Renaudin Vary is a French trumpeter and artist on the Warner label, who’s already performed all over the world with the likes of the Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and Munich Symphony Orchestra.
Daniel Lozakovich

Daniel Lozakovich is a Swedish violinist who made his concert debut at the tender age of nine, under conductor Vladimir Spivakov in Moscow.
Noa Wildschut

Violinist Noa Wildschut was just seven when she debuted at a major European concert hall, and it was Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, no less.
Mao Fujita

21-year old pianist Mao Fujita is an impressive player, as comfortable in music by Mozart as he is in Romantic repertoire, with recent debuts with orchestras like the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic.
Freddie De Tommaso

Freddie De Tommaso, 27, is a British-Italian tenor who recently announced his debut album, Passione, on Decca Classics.
Jan Lisiecki

Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki is only 25, but has a decade-long career behind him already. He was 18 when he became both the youngest ever recipient of Gramophone’s Young Artist Award and winner of the Leonard Bernstein Award, and he was named UNICEF Ambassador to Canada in 2012.
Christian Li

Christian Li is an Australian-Chinese child prodigy who signed with Decca Classics at 12 years old, becoming the youngest artist in history to ever do so.
Kian Soltani

Austrian-Iranian cellist Kian Soltani came to attention playing with Daniel Barenboim’s prestigious West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and signed to famous classical music record label, Deutsche Grammophon in 2017.
Ayana Tsuji

Ayana Tsuji is a Japanese violinist who’s won pretty much every competition going, and who started honing her craft from the tender age of three.
Sheku Kanneh-Mason

British cellist Sheku-Kanneh Mason shot to fame when he performed at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in 2018. But that’s not where the story started by any stretch of the imagination – he won Young Musician of the Year before that, appeared on Britain’s Got Talent with his siblings before that, and had already signed to Decca Classics – hence the invite to play at the wedding.
Daniil Trifonov

Daniil Trifonov is a Russian pianist and composer who’s been described by Canadian newspaper, The Globe and the Mail, as “arguably today’s leading classical virtuoso”.
Anna Lapwood

Anna Lapwood is a British conductor, broadcaster, organist and multi-instrumentalist, and Director of Music at Pembroke College, Cambridge.
Pauline Haas

French harpist Pauline Haas has won numerous competitions and performed all over the world, including in a show called ‘onde et lyres’, produced by Jeunesses Musicales de France (JMF), in a duo with fellow performer Thomas Bloch.
Jamal Aliyev

Jamal Aliyev is a Turkish cellist who has performed at famous concert halls, including Wigmore Hall, and with prestigious orchestras including Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
Pablo Ferrández

Cellist Pablo Ferrández is a Sony Classical artist who’s made debuts at the Hollywood Bowl with Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel and with Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Daniele Gatti – to name just an impressive two.
Isata Kanneh-Mason

Isata Kanneh-Mason is a pianist known for championing the music of Clara Schumann, winning numerous competitions and performing at the world’s top venues, including Wigmore Hall and the Royal Festival Hall in the UK.
Timothy Ridout

Violist Timothy Ridout, 24, has performed as a soloist with many leading orchestras including Philharmonia Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra of Europe.
Alberto Giurioli

29-year-old composer and pianist Alberto Giurioli started playing at the age of four, and has since been releasing iTunes Classical Chart-topping music with millions of listens on Spotify.
Sean Shibe

Scottish guitarist Sean Shibe, 29, has already scooped prestigious awards from Gramophone and Royal Philharmonic Society, including for the acclaimed recording, Soft, on the Delphian label.
Johan Dalene

21-year-old Swedish violinist Johan Dalene made a name for himself when he entered the famous Menuhin Competition at 15, and he has already performed with the Czech Philharmonic and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.
Christoph Croisé

Cellist Christoph Croisé has a string of recordings under his belt, and he is known for his recording of Baroque music, which he plays on his 1712 Matteo Goffriller cello.
Esther Yoo

26-year-old violinist Esther Yoo made her concerto debut at the age of eight, and attracted global attention in 2010 when she became the youngest prize-winner at the International Sibelius Violin Competition.
Alma Deutscher

Alma Deutscher is a child prodigy composer and pianist who wrote her first piano sonata at the age of five, first opera at seven, and who has since wowed audiences with a Carnegie Hall debut. She’s only 16.
Eric Lu

American pianist Eric Lu won 1st Prize at the famous Leeds International Piano Competition in 2018 and, now 23, released his first recording in 2020 on the Warner Classics label.
Thibaut Garcia

Thibaut Garcia is a Franco-Spanish guitarist, born in 1994, who has signed with Warner and played all over the world for prestigious festivals and orchestras.
Randall Goosby

Randall Goosby is an American violinist who signed to Decca Classics in 2020 and announced an upcoming album of music by African-American composers, including William Grant Still, Florence Price and Xavier Foley.

Julian Lloyd Webber’s Rising Stars, from 9pm Sunday 28 February on Classic FM – available across the UK on 100-102 FM, DAB digital radio and TV, at ClassicFM.com and on Global Player, the official Classic FM app.