The Astatine Trio and Novo Quartet join the scheme from 2025–2027

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Left to right: the Astatine Trio © Sophie Williams, and the Novo Quartet © Maya Matsuura

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BBC Radio 3 has announced its 2025 New Generation Artists cohort. Among them are two string ensembles: the Astatine Trio and the Novo Quartet. The two-year scheme offers a platform to promising artists at the beginning of their international careers, providing opportunities for recording and broadcasting, concert engagements, and the chance to work with the five BBC orchestras.

The London-based Astatine Trio was formed in 2021 and comprises violinist Maja Horvat, cellist Riya Hamie, and pianist Berniya Hamie. It has won the first prize at competitions including the Birmingham International Piano Chamber Music Competition, the Senior Intercollegiate Piano Trio Competition, and the Virtuoso&Belcanto International Chamber Competition, and second prize at the 2025 Franz Schubert and Modern Music Competition. The trio has also been selected as Kirckman Concert Society artists for 2025–2026 and was part of the Britten Pears Young Artists programme for 2023–2024.

The Novo Quartet from Denmark was established in 2018 and is made up of violinists Kaya Kato Møller and Nikolai Vasili Nedergaard, violist Daniel Śledziński, and cellist Signe Ebstrup Bitsch. It has won first prize at the Concours de Genève and Irene Steels-Wilsing Foundation competitions, second prize at the Trondheim and Carl Nielsen international chamber music competitions, and was named part of the Danish Arts Foundation’s Young Artistic Elite for 2024–2026.

The other artists selected for 2025 were soprano Erika Baikoff, baritone Andrew Hamilton, clarinettist Oleg Shebeta-Dragan, and pianist Lukas Sternath.

This year, the New Generation Artist scheme celebrates its 25th anniversary. Among the initial cohort in 1999 were violinist Lisa Batiashvili, cellists Alban Gerhardt and Natalie Clein, the Leopold String Trio, the Belcea Quartet, and the Jerusalem Quartet.

‘We’re very much a family and we take great pleasure in continuing to support these young musicians long after they’ve officially left us,’ says Radio 3 commissioning editor Emma Bloxham. ‘We’re very proud of the fact we’re able to tailor the offer to the individual and we love it when people come to us with ideas, however wacky!’

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