THE prestigious BBC Young Musicians 98 will be the stage for Bolton schoolboy Mark Almond when he plays in the National Brass Final of the competition tonight.

An A-Level student at Bolton School, Mark, aged 17, has been playing the French horn since 1991 and the tenor horn since 1988, and he is currently Principal Horn of the National Youth Orchestra and the National Youth Chamber Orchestra.

He is one of five brass players remaining in the final, which will be broadcast at 6.40pm on BBC-2 in association with Lloyds Bank.

If Mark wins the Brass Final he will receive £2,000 and will go forward to the Final Concert in Belfast on Sunday, March 29.

Mark, from Bromley Cross, will join the winners of the keyboard, percussion, strings and woodwind categories to perform a concerto with the Ulster Orchestra, conducted by Barry Wordsworth. The concert will be shown on BBC-2 at 4.45pm on the same day.

The overall winner of the competition will receive £2,600, the title of BBC Young Musician 1998, a special trophy and the Lloyds Bank Young Musician Travel Award.

They will also have the chance to represent the UK in Eurovision Young Musician in Vienna in June.

Previous holders of the title include leading international soloists and stars, such as pianist Barry Douglas who will head a distinguished jury at the Final Concert in Belfast.

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