SIX young musicians are tuning up in a bid to win a place at the Royal Albert Hall later this year.

Jazz sextet Milestones will compete in the National Festival of Music for Youth, in Birmingham, in July, after winning through the regional heat earlier this year.

If they are successful in Birmingham, they could be chosen to play at the Royal Albert Hall Schools Prom, in November.

Brothers Steven and Richard Brown, aged 19 and 17, recently teamed up with Caroline Bagley, 17, Matthew Trotter, 16, Anthony Ord, 18, and Ben Laing, 18, after they met at a music workshop.

Steven and Richard's mother, Helen Brown, who teaches violin for Tees Valley Music Service, said as soon as they all played together, it was obvious they had something special.

"To get this far in their own right, and not be part of a school or university group, is really something special," said Mrs Brown, from Elton, near Stockton.

"They are really very good, and I definitely think they could make it to the Albert Hall, without a doubt. They are that good - they could all be professional musicians."

She said the six, who have all attended Egglescliffe School and Sixth Form College, or Bede College, in Billingham, had gelled together very well.

She added: "They sound amazing. They have done so well and we are all very excited."

Mrs Brown said her son, Richard, who plays drums, has won a place at a Youth Music Jazz Summer School in Leeds for a week next month.

She said there were 85 people who applied to attend, and her son was one of only 32 to win a place.