Vienna, 11 May 2010 - The Semi-Final of the 15th Eurovision Young Musicians competition took place on 8 and 9 May 2010 at the ORF (Austrian Broadcasting Corporation) Radio Culture-House in Vienna where 15 talented, young musicians, representing 15 European Broadcasting Union (EBU) Members' countries from all over Europe competed for the seven places in the Final. Today, the seven Finalists were introduced during an on-stage press conference at the Rathausplatz (Town Hall square), where the competition's Final will take place in front of an audience of tens of thousands on Friday, 14 May 2010, at 21.20 CET.

The Finalists, shortlisted from the 15 competitors, aged this year from 13 to 19, were selected by a professional international jury, headed by former concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, violinist Werner Hink, who will also be part of a differently composed jury panel for the Final, which will be headed by Hungarian composer and conductor, Péter Eötvös.

The seven Finalists are (in order of appearance):

1.    Filip Mercep, 18, Croatia, Marimba
2.    Guro Kleven-Hagen, 16, Norway, Violin
3.    Bartosz Glowacki, 17, Poland, Accordion
4.    Hayrapet Arakelyan, 19, Germany, Saxophone
5.    Ivan Karizna, 18, Belarus, Cello
6.    Eva-Nina Kozmus, 16, Slovenia, Flute
7.    Daniil Trifonov, 19, Russia, Piano

The Final will mark the opening ceremony of the 2010 Wiener Festwochen, the Vienna Festival. The young musicians will be accompanied by the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (RSO), conducted by the young conductor Cornelius Meister, who will become the orchestra's chief conductor this year.

The 2010 Eurovision Young Musicians, Eurovision TV’s flagship classical music event, broadcast by at least 17 European public broadcasters and watched by 2 million homes across Europe and beyond, sees its 15th edition this year. Since its foundation in 1982, this biennial competition for young, talented musicians has been an important and effective tool for fostering the careers of promising, talented musicians in Europe, by allowing them to perform to the widest possible audience.

Bettina Brinkmann, Head of Formats & Special Events at Eurovision TV says “This exceptional competition provides an international stage to identify outstanding, young, talented musicians.  It is a wonderful occasion to stimulate interest in classical music in younger audiences”.

This year's competition is the third, consecutive coproduction between Eurovision TV/EBU, ORF, and the Wiener Festwochen.

Tune in to live stream of the competition
The live stream will be available on the Eurovision Young Musicians official website on Friday, 14 May at 21.20 CET.

Note to Editors:
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) serves 86 national media organizations from 56 countries in and around Europe.  It promotes the values and distinctiveness of public service media in Europe and around the world. It brings news, sports, events and music to your home through the Eurovision and Euroradio networks. The EBU develops and shares best practices, media expertise and innovation. It produces and exchanges rich and diverse programmes across all media.

Eurovision TV collaboration at the European Broadcasting Union offers its Members a unique platform to exchange programme ideas and best practices resulting in high quality coproductions in all genres including animation series, music and dance, documentary, science and education, fiction, and of course the annual mega-show the Eurovision Song Contest.  86% of EBU Members are involved in Eurovision TV coproductions.