COLNE-born musician Rachael Clegg will be playing on home turf when she leads the Manchester Camerata in a glorious concert of orchestral music on Sunday.

Rachael, 40, who now lives in Burnage, Manchester, with her partner and two young children, holds the position of principal oboe with Manchester's highly- esteemed orchestra.

And the homecoming concert at Colne Muni on Sunday will be extra special as she is to be bee the principal soloist for one of the piecs, Vaughan William's Concerto for Oboe in A Minor.

"This is a very special occasion for me," she said.

"The Camerata play Colne Muni quite often but this time I've been invited to do the Oboe Concerto, which is really exciting. It's always nice to go back home where my family still live because they all come to see me.

"Colne feels different to Manchester because at Colne you tend to see a lot of familiar faces in the audience because it has a band of die-hard members who come to every concert, which is lovely."

Rachael has played the oboe for 20 years, the last nine of which have been with the Manchester Camerata.

She said chamber music is her first love.

"I started to learn the oboe as a child," she said. "My grandfather encouraged me. He said I should play something unusual because there are a lot of flute and clarinet players but not so many oboeists.

"The oboe is quite difficult to play initially, you've got to have a lot of puff to get it to make a sound, but I took to it quite well and started playing in youth orchestras. I went on to play with the Lancashire Student Symphony Orchestra and that's when I realised that I wanted to play in an orchestra as a career."

She went on to study at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, and in 1999 was offered a full-time place on the Camerata.

"Being offered a job with the Camerata during a tour of Japan eight years ago is the highlight of my career," said Rachael.

"It was the best feeling. I've travelled the world with my work and got to play with marvellous musicians. It's also not a nine-to-five job, which means I can pick my children up from school, so the flexibility suits me."

For other budding local musicians, Rachael had this piece of advice: "Practise hard and go to plenty of concerts. Nothing compares with hearing live music. Follow our goal and go for your dream."

  • Manchester Camerata, Colne Muni, Sunday, March 2, 6pm. Box office 01282 661234.