A TALENTED flautist has beaten hundreds of young musicians to claim a place with the National Youth Wind Orchestra.

Millie Stonehouse, from Runswick Bay, North Yorkshire, earned her place after passing several auditions and will be just one of eight flautists joining the orchestra, which is made up of 75 musicians aged 15 to 21.

The 17-year-old Prior Pursglove College student is currently studying for AS levels in Music, Biology and Psychology at the Guisborough based Sixth Form College.

She will now attend a residential course in London over the Easter holidays and in the months to follow will perform concerts with the orchestra at the Royal Academy of Music in London, Oxford Town Hall and at St John’s Smith Square, also in London.

She said: “I am very excited, pleased and proud at earning a place with the National Youth Wind Orchestra. I am most looking forward to playing at venues and meeting lots of new people.

“At the college I have appreciated the amount of opportunities available to students including the orchestra, which I am a member of. Since I went to school in Whitby I didn’t know a lot of people when I first started, but I have enjoyed making lots of new friends here.”

The teenager, who as well as the flute can play the piano and sing, has passed on her musical interests to her younger siblings.

In a musical family Millie’s brother Jay plays the saxophone, guitar, drums and piano, while sisters Jasmine and Evie play the saxophone, piano and sing. Jasmine also plays the clarinet.