Six young classical talents have made it through to the Grand Final of the 19^th Eurovision Young Musicians.

Artists from the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Norway, Russia and Slovenia will perform one or more movements of a single musical work up to 12 minutes long at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh on Thursday 23 August.

The 6 qualified from the Semi-Finals held on 18 and 19 August which saw 18 participants perform for a 4 person jury made up of British bassoonist Ursula Leveaux, Spanish percussionist Noè Roderigo Gisbert, Korean pianist Sinae Lee, and the chair cellist and conductor David Watkin.

They then decided the following artists would go forward to compete for the title of Eurovision Young Musician 2018.

• Indi Stivín, double bass (Czech Republic)
• Mira Foron, violin (Germany)
• Máté Bencze, saxophone (Hungary)
• Birgitta Elisa Oftestad, cello (Norway)
• Ivan Bessonov, pianist (Russia)
• Nikola Pajanović, violin (Slovenia)

The finalists will perform together with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Chief Conductor Thomas Dausgaard. All the 18 participants' perfomances so far can be seen on the official Eurovision Young Musicians YouTube channel.

The winner of Eurovision Young Musicians 2018 will be decided by an international panel of classical music luminaries; cellist and conductor David Watkin, American conductor and violinist Marin Alsop, composer and performer Anna Meredith, Scottish classical composer and conductor James MacMillan and Head of Music for the Edinburgh International Festival, Andrew Moore.

This year's event is being produced in partnership with the prestigious Edinburgh International Festival and hosted by BBC Radio 3, BBC  Studios, BBC Scotland and BBC Arts Digital.

“The EBU is delighted with the BBC production so far,” said the EBU’s Executive Supervisor of Eurovision Live Events, Jon Ola Sand.

“Through our partnership with the Edinburgh International Festival, one of the world’s greatest arts events, we are thrilled to be bringing this huge showcase for young classical musicians to an even bigger audience. This competition has provided a launch-pad for some of the biggest stars of the classical world and with 2018’s competition as part of the EIF this is offering Europe’s talented youth an even greater chance to shine.”

The Grand Final will be broadcast live ( or slightly deferred) in 12 of the participating countries by EBU Members:

• Albania / RTSH 1
• Belgium / RTBF – La Trois
• Croatia / HRT – HTV 3
• Czech Republic  / Czech TV - CT Art
• Greece / ERT 2
• Hungary / MTVA – M5
• Malta / PBS Ltd. – TVM 2
• Norway / NRK 2
• Poland / TVP Kultura
• Russia / Russia Kultura
• Slovenia / RTV 1
• UK / BBC 2 Scotland and Red Button (deferred 30 minutes 20h00 BST)

Other Members will be airing the competition at a later date. The full broadcast schedule can be found here.

Full list of participating broadcasters

RTSH (Albania), RTBF (Belgium), HRT (Croatia), CT (Czech Republic), ERR (Estonia), WDR (Germany), ERT (Greece), MTVA (Hungary), Kan IPBC (Israel), PBS (Malta), NRK (Norway), TVP (Poland), RTR (Russia), RTV (San Marino), RTVS (Slovenia), RTVE (Spain), SVT (Sweden), BBC (United Kingdom)