Young musician Samin tune for radio show

Sam (17), a student at Portadown College, will feature on BBC Radio Ulster’s Classical Connections with John Toal this Sunday, June 18, from 3pm.

He will join other talented youngsters - soprano Elaine Pelan, flautist Kristan Swain, pianist Rowel Friers, recorder player Rebecca Doherty and guitarist Anselm McDonnell.

Sam recently visited BBC’s Blackstaff studios in Belfast to record the programme.

A lead violinist in the SELB orchestra, he recently revealed that the vintage violin he received as a surprise Christmas present had lain in a family attic for 40 years, after being brought back from London by his great-uncle.

It was made in Paris in 1891 by Jean Baptiste Collin-Mezin, a celebrated French violin maker,

Sam had been searching for a vintage violin and his dad Stephen remarked that it was almost as if the violin “had been waiting for him”.

BBC Music Day will take place not just on Thursday, June 15 but across the weekend with a series of programmes on TV and radio, including jazz and folk sessions.