A YOUNG British composer will be staking his claim to be the next Verdi when he travels to Italy later this month.

Will Todd, who was born and brought up in Durham City, is one of three finalists in the International Giuseppe Verdi Competition for the Composition of a Lyric Opera.

The competition was set up to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the composer's death and attracted entries from across the globe.

Thirty-year-old Mr Todd was one of only eight composers shortlisted and invited to submit a proposed subject for a lyric opera.

Working with his regular librettist, Ben Dunwell, he came up with the idea for The Blackened Man - a two act opera based on the true story of Will Jobling, who was hanged in 1832 during a miners' strike in Jarrow.

Jobling was present at an argument in which fellow miner Ralph Armstrong struck and fatally injured local magistrate Nicholas Fairles

Despite the magistrate's account of the incident in which he named Armstrong as the killer, Jobling was executed for the crime and his tar-covered body paraded around the county as a warning to others.

In June last year, the opera was commissioned to enter the final stage of the competition and Mr Todd will travel to Parma on May 22 to submit the work to the distinguished panel of judges.

Mr Todd, who won a music scholarship to Durham School, then studied music at Bristol University, lives in London. His works in include The Burning Road, written to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Jarrow March and the oratorio Saint Cuthbert.

Saint Cuthbert will be performed in Durham Cathedral on Friday, June 1. The celebration of the life of the Northumbrian hermit will be performed by the Halle Orchestra and a chorus of nearly 200 singers from across the region.

For more information, call 0191-384 7641.