Oxfordshire teen is BBC Young Musician brass winner

BBC Sasha CanterBBC
Sasha Canter, from Long Wittenham, has won the brass final of BBC Young Musician 2022

An 18-year-old trumpet player has won the brass final of BBC Young Musician 2022.

Sasha Canter, from Long Wittenham, Oxfordshire, was selected by the judges following the contest at Saffron Hall in Saffron Walden, Essex.

His victory was shown on a special programme broadcast on BBC Four on Tuesday evening.

After winning the trophy he said: "It's amazing and quite surreal... but I'm sure it'll sink in over a few days."

Judge Anne McAneney, a trumpet player and professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, said: "He held the hall right from the first note.

"He played a fantastic wide range of styles of music... ending with his own piece which was stunning."

Sasha competed against horn player Daniel Hibbert, 17, trumpeter Florence Wilson-Toy, 17, French horn player Imogen Moorsom, 18, and trumpeter Phoebe Mallinson, 16.

Other finals are also taking place in the strings, woodwind, percussion, and keyboard categories.

For the grand final, which took place at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall on Thursday but will be broadcast on Sunday, each category winner performed a concerto with the BBC Philharmonic.

Previous winners of the talent contest, which has been running since 1978, include cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason and violinist Nicola Benedetti.

Brass finalists (l-r) Phoebe Mallinson, Imogen Moorsom, Florence Wilson-Toy, Daniel Hibbert, and Sasha Canter
The brass finalists (l-r) were Phoebe Mallinson, Imogen Moorsom, Florence Wilson-Toy, Daniel Hibbert, and Sasha Canter
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