A TRUMPETER from Royston has been nominated in the Female Artist of the Year category at the Classical Brit Awards.

Alison Balsom will go head to head with three British artists for the first time in Classical Brit history, including violinist Nicola Benedetti and pianist Dame Mitsuko Uchida.

The award would be the third Brit accolade for the 30-year-old after becoming the first British woman to scoop the prize in 2009, and winning Young British Classical Performer in 2006.

Alison will be watched by proud parents Bill and Zena, who still live in Royston, and her brother Richard, who is a firefighter at the Baldock Street station, when she takes to the stage to perform pieces from her album Italian Concertos at the glittering ceremony in the Albert Hall on Thursday May 12.

The mother of one started playing the trumpet at the age of seven, when she was a pupil at Tannery Drift First School, and continued learning while she was a student at the Greneway and Meridian schools in the town, prior to attending the Guildhall School of Music.

She said: "It's great to have won it before, it's great for the profile of the trumpet, it's great for me - it shows people are enjoying the albums.

"Even if I don't win it's a fantastic vote of thanks for the work you have done, it gives you confidence. It's great to be recognised."

Alison, who now lives in Winchester, is a former member of the Cambridge Youth Orchestra and returns to Royston at Christmas to play with the town band at local hospitals.

Graham Smith, the chairman of Royston Town Band, said: "We are so very pleased for her. She started with the town band and I taught her as a learner when she was eight.

"She was probably one of the most enthusiastic youngsters that we ever had and showed great talent at a young age."

Also performing at the annual awards, hosted by Mylene Klass, are Katherine Jenkins, Il Divo, Germany's violin virtuoso Ann-Sophie Mutter, and a selection of the cast of Les Misérables.

Tickets are on sale now and are available from the Royal Albert Hall box office on (0207) 589 8212.