Dylan Latham, 12, from Thorpe St Andrew, has reached the finals of a competition to find the Young Composer of the year

A Norwich School student is celebrating having reached the national finals of a competition to find the young composer of the year.

Dylan Latham, 12, from Thorpe St Andrew, will see students from a music specialist school in north London, Purcell School, perform his composition for a chance to win the prestigious title.

Dylan, who has been playing the violin since he was three, and the piano since he was eight and aspires to be a violin soloist, said: “My piece is about an Olympic cross-country race and starts out as a fanfare, then follows the race to its climax.”

The new competition for young composers is being run by European String Teachers Association (ESTA) in partnership with the school.

Composers of all ages were invited to submit compositions into one of three age categories and following one of four instrumental combinations.

The finalists have been invited to the workshop at The Purcell School ‘Strings and Things’, and the winning composition in each age class will be performed at the ESTA Conference at The Purcell School on November 11.

Dylan has been composing music since he was seven and has been learning music theory since he was 10 years old.

But this isn’t the first success that he’s had with his compositions – the Norwich Suzuki School performed a piece that he wrote for four violins when he was nine, Slanted Dance commissioned a piece that he wrote, to choreograph a ballet dance, and he performed the piece for the dancers at the Open Venue in December 2011.

“I have attended lots of national workshops and master classes, including two years at Pro Corda and three years in the National Children’s Orchestra,” Dylan added.