A GIFTED Alton teenager has secured a place in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain for the second successive year.

Georgie Davis, 17, won one of the coveted 163 places which have been fought over by 750 musical students over the last two months.

The former Amery Hill School pupil was chosen for her viola playing but also gained a reserve place on clarinet.

Now studying for her A-Levels at Peter Symonds College, as well as being on the Hampshire specialist music course, Georgie said: “Amazingly, National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain have asked me to play on the clarinet for the spring residency where we will be playing Michael Daugherty’s Fire and Blood and Stravinsky’s The Firebird in London’s Royal Festival Hall, as well as the Philharmonic Hall Liverpool and The Bridgewater Hall in Manchester.

“There are three residencies – winter, spring and summer – and I can’t wait to play the viola at the BBC Proms again in the Royal Albert Hall in the summer.

“We will also be playing and encouraging other teenagers and younger children in workshops around the country, which I really enjoyed last year.”

Over the past eight weeks, almost 750 of the brightest young musicians from all over the UK have been battling it out for a coveted seat in this year’s National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain – the world’s greatest orchestra of teenagers.

Orchestra chiefs last month announced the 163 teenagers identified as the most talented and enthralling young orchestral musicians nationally.

The 2016 National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, a vital part of cultural life in the UK and a world-renowned pinnacle of artistic achievement by young players of outstanding vitality and ability, includes young instrumentalists from every region in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

They will work at an exceptional level with their peers, performing in the UK’s finest concert halls under the world’s leading conductors.

The result of this year’s auditions is an orchestra of 76 female and 87 male musicians whose average age this year is 16.

Eight are new to the orchestra with 75 returning musicians. Millie Ashton, 17, from London, is the orchestra’s new leader, just two years after joining at the back of the violin section.

Her quick progression through National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain has made her realise what is possible and she now aspires to being a professional violinist.

Since 1948, the National Youth Orchestra has inspired many of the world’s greatest conductors, composers and performers, including Sir Simon Rattle, chief conductor and artistic director of the Berlin Philharmonic.

Sir Simon said: “I’ll never forget my time with the orchestra and genuinely believe it to be one of Britain’s greatest musical assets.”

The first performances of 2016 were conducted by acclaimed English conductor and National Youth Orchestra alum Nicholas Collon at Leeds Town Hall on January 2 and the Barbican Centre in London on January 3. The London programme included Tchaikovsky’s Hamlet Fantasy-Overture, alongside Prokofiev’s Symphony No 5 and Korngold’s Violin Concerto with American violinist Tai Murray.

Rounding off their first residency of the year will be a three-day workshop at two London schools – Lister Community School and Highbury Grove School, a music specialist comprehensive school in Islington.

Supporting the orchestra’s vision of inspiring as many fellow teenagers as possible, their hands-on work will involve workshops and performances aimed at galvanising teenagers’ interest in orchestral music.