BBC Proms 2026: Ten artists aged 30 and under
Every year the BBC Proms presents some of the world’s most talented young musicians, showcasing the brightest rising stars on the international stage.
Here’s our pick of the exceptional artists aged 30 and under who will be stepping into the spotlight at the iconic Royal Albert Hall this season.
Yunchan Lim
First Night of the Proms | 17 July
The youngest of our BBC Proms soloists is Yunchan Lim, the South Korean pianist who has been described by critics as a once-in-a-generation talent.
Yunchan was the youngest pianist ever to win the prestigious Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, in Texas in 2022. His winning performance, of Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto, launched his rapid rise to stardom, and he has since performed with leading international orchestras and sell-out concerts around the globe.
He made his BBC Proms debut in 2024 playing Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto, the ‘Emperor’, and returned last season with Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 4. This year, Yunchan performs Ravel’s beloved Piano Concerto in G major at the First Night of the Proms.
Julie Roset
John Wilson Conducts the Sinfonia of London Strings | 6 Sep
French soprano Julie Roset makes her debut at this year’s BBC Proms performing Benjamin Britten’s orchestral song-cycle Les illuminations with the Sinfonia of London strings and conductor John Wilson.
A rising star on the opera scene, Julie studied at the Conservatoire du Grand Avignon, the Geneva University of Music and the prestigious Juilliard School in New York City. Back in France, she made her opera debut at the Opéra de Paris as Amour in Médée, and has since gone on to perform as Euridice and La Musica in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo at the Royal Theatre, Madrid and L’incoronazione di Poppea at the Aix-en-Provence Festival.
Julie also often performs with leading Baroque ensembles, including Cappella Mediterranea, Le Concert de la Loge, Les Arts Florissants, and Twelfth Night, with which she made her Carnegie Hall debut.
Ben Goldscheider
Dvořák’s ‘New World’ Symphony | 6 Sep
British Horn player Ben Goldscheider is an internationally leading brass player. He first came to prominence as an 18-year-old finalist in the 2016 BBC Young Musician competition, when he performed Strauss’s Second Horn Concerto.
Since embarking on his solo career, Ben has premiered over 50 new works for the horn and given countless recitals at major concert halls across Europe. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with internationally renowned artists such as Martha Argerich and Daniel Barenboim. He is also Principal Horn of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra.
This year he returns to the Proms to perform a new Triple Concerto by Gwilym Simcock with his fellow BBC Young Musician 2016 finalists, Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Jess Gillam, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
Sueye Park
Also sprach Zarathustra | 21 July
South Korean violinist Sueye Park began playing violin at the age of 4 and started her formal musical studies at the Hanns Eisler Music School in Berlin when she was just 9.
She has since appeared with leading orchestras in major festivals and at concert halls worldwide, including with the Finnish Radio Symphonyy Orchestra, Helsinki and Seoul Philharmonic orchestras, Orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin and Weimar State Orchestra.
In 2025 she won the Jean Sibelius Violin Competition in Helsinki, propelling her to widespread international attention and impressing the competition’s jury chair, John Storgårds, Chief Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Sueye makes her Proms debut this year with Storgårds and the BBC PO, performing Sibelius’s Violin Concerto.
Laurence Kilsby
British tenor Laurence Kilsby began his singing career as a boy treble Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum and was BBC Radio 2’s Young Chorister of the Year in 2009.
For his fifth appearance at the Proms this year, Laurence is the soloist in a Late Night Baroque concert with the Jupiter Ensemble, performing arias by Dowland, Purcell and Handel.
Laurence studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and at London's Royal College of Music, before joining the Opéra de Paris Academy. He has since performed with leading ensembles such as the BBC and RTÉ National Symphony orchestras, Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Sinfonia of London, and Radio France and Rotterdam Philharmonic orchestras.
Natalie Lewis
Mahler’s First by Heart | 1 & 2 August
One to watch at the Proms this year is American mezzo-soprano Natalie Lewis.
Having studied at the University of Massachusetts and the Juilliard School, she is now completing her second season as a member of the Bavarian State Opera Ensemble. Her recent accolades include second prize at the Operalia competitions, as well as first place and the Audience Favourite Award at Houston Grand Opera’s 2023 Concert of Arias. The same year, she also won the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition.
She makes her Proms debut this summer with the Aurora Orchestra and conductor Nicholas Collon, performing in Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, an early work that would go on to shape the musical language of the great Austrian composer's Symphony No. 1.
Sheku Kanneh-Mason
Dvořák’s ‘New World’ Symphony | 6 Sep
For longtime fans of classical music, cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason needs no introduction.
A leading international soloist, he performs worldwide and has already appeared at the Proms more than 10 times. Among his many career achievements, he has served this season as Artist in Residence with the New York Philharmonic.
His electrifying win aged 17 at the BBC Young Musician competition in 2016 propelled him to widespread recognition, and he won international acclaim two years later with his performance at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex at Windsor Castle, which was watched by a global audience of two billion.
Tom Fetherstonhaugh
Relaxed Prom | 9 August & Evelyn Glennie and the Fantasia Orchestra | 11 August
British conductor Tom Fetherstonhaugh is the founder and Artistic Director of the Fantasia Orchestra, an ensemble which embraces cross-genre programming and showcases some of the best British talent in classical music today.
Tom was trained at Westminster Abbey, Oxford University and the Royal Academy of Music and was Assistant Conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. In recent years he has made significant debuts with many of the UK’s leading orchestras.
Last appearing the Proms in 2024, he led the Fantasia Orchestra in a special concert of folk songs and dances with brothers Braimah and Sheku Kanneh-Mason. This year, he returns with the Fantasia Orchestra for a special Relaxed Prom and a Late Night concert with star percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie.
Hugh Cutting
Bach’s Mass in B minor with Arcangelo | 12 Sep
British counter-tenor Hugh Cutting has had an unstoppable rise to the top of classical music and shows no signs of slowing down.
The first counter-tenor ever to win the prestigious Kathleen Ferrier Award, Hugh is a former BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist and has firmly established himself as one of the most compelling voices of his generation. This season Hugh has been a Wigmore Hall Artist in Residence, having already racked up a string of acclaimed performances with groups such as The English Concert, Les Arts Florissants, the Dunedin Consort and his own ensemble, Refound.
In 2025, Hugh made a standout appearance at the Proms in Handel’s Alexander’s Feast, performing with the Irish Baroque Orchestra and conductor Peter Whelan. This year he will appear alongside Jeanine De Bique and Arcangelo in Bach’s Mass in B Minor, one of the great cornerstone pieces of the Baroque era.
Jess Gillam
Choirs on the Concourse | 25 July & Dvořák’s ‘New World’ Symphony | 6 Sep
One of the most familiar faces on the British classical-music scene today, Jess Gillam is a prominent international saxophonist and broadcaster.
Like her fellow BBC Young Musician 2016 finalists Ben and Sheku, Jess was launched onto the international stage via the competition. Just two years later she became the youngest ever soloist to perform at the Last Night of the Proms.
Jess has received a Classic BRIT award, was made MBE for Services to Music in 2021 and has had both her albums reach No. 1 on the UK Classical Charts. She has premiered and performed numerous concertos written especially for her and has given recitals across Europe. Jess can also be heard presenting the weekly BBC Radio 3 show This Classical Life.
