DANIEL Harding, 14, a pupil at Marling School in Stroud is one of 11 young composers chosen as winners of this year’s Fanfare Competition organised by the Royal Opera House in London.

The event, now in its fifth year, attracted over 260 entries from across the UK with the winners being chosen by a panel of Royal Opera House professionals. They included: Antonio Pappano, Music Director of the Royal Opera; Barry Wordsworth, Music Director of the Royal Ballet; and composers Judith Weir and Duncan Chapman.

As part of his prize Daniel, from Dursley, will be invited to the Royal Opera House to take part in an orchestration workshop, and will also join Antonio Pappano and members or the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House to record his fanfare, entitled Birth of a New Generation.

Daniel and his fellow winners will also be invited to a performance of La Boheme in July to hear the world premiere of each fanfare, and the fanfares will also be played to audiences before every main stage production at the Royal Opera House.

He said: “I entered the Fanfare Competition because composing a fanfare is different to composing anything else. It provides a different challenge: you need to grab people’s attention in a moment, and you only have 30 seconds to get your message across to your audience.

“I was delighted to be one of the winners of the competition and I am really looking forward to orchestrating the fanfare with professional musicians and hearing the piece in its final form. This event has also inspired me to compose more music.”

You can hear Daniel’s fanfare, and the other winning entries, on http://www.roh.org.uk/news/10-winners-announced-from-over-260-entries-in-the-fanfare-competition-2014