A TEENAGE musician from Pendle is celebrating winning a prestigious composition contest.

Gifted Vahan Salorian, 17, of Barnoldswick, scooped the North Yorkshire Young Composers Competition for the second time in three years.

As part of his prize, he saw his winning piece, A Chinese Overture, played during a special concert at Selby Abbey earlier this month.

To cap off the accolade, the multi-talented schoolboy was part of the 70-piece North Yorkshire Schools Symphony Orchestra which performed the piece.

Vahan, of Back Chapel Street, is no stranger to winning awards, but said his recent success was as rewarding as ever.

He said: “It is one of the more ambitious pieces I have written and I worked hard on it.

“Lots of people had good things to say about it.

“It was interesting because I had to come up with a Chinese sound, and having a full-size orchestra allowed me to use all the instrum-ents at my disposal.”

Vahan, who also won the competition in its inaugural year in 2008, performed a flute solo during A Chinese Overture and later played either the French horn or flute.

Despite excelling as a flautist, he said his first love was composing.

“I actually enjoy comp-osing more than playing,” he said.

Vahan is a Year 12 pupil at Ermysted’s Grammar School, Skipton.

Another local student, Alice Kelly, a pupil at Skipton Girls’ High School, played the oboe in the orchestra and, along with Vahan, was one of four students shortlisted for the composition competition.