Rising star Christian Grajner de Sa will play the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto when St Albans Symphony Orchestra (SASO) performs its early spring concert next Saturday, March 5,

Although only 21, and still a third-year student at the Royal Academy of Music, he has gathered a clutch of awards and competition prizes, while appearing as a recitalist and in chamber music at the Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, St Martins in the Field and other prestigious venues.

He was a string finalist in the 2012 BBC Young Musician of the Year competition, a finalist in the 2014 Royal Overseas League Competition and in 2015 scooped first prize in the Groba International Violin Competition in Spain.

The performance of Mendelssohn’s concerto, the central slow movement of such can claim to be one of the world’s favourite melodies, is part of a concert that starts at 7.30pm at St Saviour’s Church in St Albans.

SASO’s programme also features the evocative Four Sea Interludes that English composer Benjamin Britten wrote for his first opera, Peter Grimes.

and the Symphonic Metamorphoses of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber, by Paul Hindemith, which was written in America in 1943 where the composer was in exile from his native Germany.

The concert, opening with the Overture to Ruslan and Ludmila by 19th century Russian composer, Mikhail Glinka, will be guest conducted by Leon Gee.

A former British Arts Council Young Conductor with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, he has also worked with the Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Shanghai Symphony. In addition to being music director of the Windsor and Maidenhead Symphony Orchestra he is a noted trainer of young musicians and orchestras.

Tickets are £15 and £10 (£1 under-18s, £5 students), available from the SASO ticket secretary on 01727 852768, tickets@saso,org.uk, or online.