A talented cellist at Monmouth School for Girls has secured her place in the National Youth Orchestra of Wales (NYAW).

The hard work and dedication of 15-year-old Anna paid off during her audition which took place at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff.

Anna has been playing the cello since she was six years old and will be one of the youngest members of this year’s orchestra, which provides a first-class training experience for Wales’ musicians.

“My teacher recommended the orchestra for me and I decided to go along for the experience,” said Anna.

“I felt very nervous before the audition but I gave it my best shot and I am delighted to have been invited to join the orchestra.”

Anna, who is in Year 11 and will be sitting her GCSE examinations this summer, is a member of Haberdashers’ Monmouth Schools Symphony Orchestra (HMSSO) and the Senior Strings.

She will be playing in Monmouth School for Girls’ Spring Concert on Wednesday 13th February in the main hall, starting at 7.30pm.

NYAW is being conducted this year by Maestro, Andrew Litton, an American conductor, who won a Grammy Award for his Belshazzar’s Feast with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO).

He is the Music Director of the New York City Ballet Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and Conductor Laureate of the BSO.

Anna and the orchestra will have a residency with Maestro Litton at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David in Lampeter from 23rd July to 3rd August.

They will then be playing at the Prichard-Jones Hall in Bangor on 31st July (7.30pm), the stunning setting of St David’s Cathedral in Pembrokeshire on 2nd August (7.30pm) before a final concert at St David’s Hall in Cardiff on 3rd August (7.30pm).

Anna is particularly looking forward to working with the acclaimed conductor on Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess Symphonic Picture, a suite of some of the opera’s most loved and popular music.

The orchestra will also be performing a new piece of music by Welsh composer Mark Bowden. His Three Interludes feature incidental music from a new opera he is writing for Welsh National Opera.

And the final piece of the jigsaw will be the energetic Shostakovich’s Symphony No.10.

Anna, who also enjoys playing sport and represents the school’s first team at lacrosse, said: “Being involved with the National Youth Orchestra of Wales will be a brilliant experience. I like to be challenged and I think the repertoire will definitely stretch me.”