Arts & Culture

Stephen Sykes was named the Radio 2's Young Brass Soloist 2009 after competing at the finals at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.

The 18-year-old has been playing the trombone since he was eight and says ever since he could remember he wanted to play this particular instrument.

"I used to watch quite a lot of telly, and I always used to see the Lurpak butter man play the trombone, so to a certain extent it was his fault."

During the finals he performed Hoagy Carmichael's Stardust and Philip Wilby's White Knuckle Ride with the Black Dyke Band.

Stephen was competing against three other musicians, Lauren Reeve-Rawlings from Wiltshire, 19-year-old flugel horn player David Moore from Stalybridge and 18-year-old euphonium player Matthew White from Lancashire.

As winner of the competition, Stephen will be invited to perform alongside a championship standard brass band which will be broadcast on Radio 2.

He is also set to be perform on the station's flagship live music programme Friday Night Is Music Night.

"It's fantastic, it's a lot of hard work hopefully it be a launchpad for a career which is really what I want to be doing."