HUNDREDS of pounds were raised for charity following recitals by two young pianists in St Albans Town Hall last month.

Chantal Osindero and Julian Trevelyan raised more than �360 for the National Children’s Orchestra, Royal Society of Musicians and STARTS (St Albans Arts).

Chantal, 14, plays piano with Kasia Borowiak at the Junior Guildhall School of Music in London. She played the Beethoven Piano Sonata op 10/1 and works by Bach, Scarlatti, Liszt and Chopin.

Julian, 11, who studies piano with Soula Cooper at the Mid Herts Centre for Music and the Arts as well as being a chorister at St Albans Abbey, played Beethoven’s Piano Sonata 10/3 and works by Bach, Chopin and Debussy.

The Mayor of St Albans, Cllr Maxine Crawley, said: “I’d been told about Julian before I went to his recital but watching him play in person was mesmerising. His fingers flew across the keyboard and the music was not just complicated and beautiful but full of emotion too – emotion that it would be hard for an adult to produce let alone an 11-year-old boy.

“He and Chantal, at 14 another budding star, are exactly what the St Albans Festival is all about – people with all sorts of talents giving pleasure through their art.”