Alex Edmundson is 20 years old and comes from a musical family in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire. His parents met in 1981 whilst playing together in Blackpool Symphony Orchestra and Alex was inspired to take up the horn on hearing Barbara Maclaren (who first gave him lessons) play Mozart's 4th Horn Concerto with the ensemble, aged 7.

Having previously studied at Chethams School of Music with Lizzie Davis and Richard Watkins, he is now continuing his musical studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London, with a scholarship (supported by the City of London Corporation) under the tuition of Jeffrey Bryant.

A member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain since the age of 12 (becoming the NYO's youngest ever horn player when he joined), Alex was Principal Horn from 2007-2009 and was awarded the prestigious John Fletcher Trust Fund Brass Prize for his achievements over six years.

 Through orchestral engagements with the NYO and also Chetham's Symphony Orchestra as Principal Horn, he was privileged enough to work with world-class conductors such as Sir Mark Elder, Sir Colin Davis, Vasily Petrenko, Antonio Pappano and Semyon Bychov to name a few. Other orchestral achievements include a guest invitation to the Britten-Pears Orchestra Summer School 2008, performing Bruckner 7. Most recently, Alex was invited to the European Union Youth Orchestra's Spring/Summer Tours 2010 and Spring Tour 2011. In December 2010 he was appointed Principal Horn of the Young Musicians Symphony Orchestra.

 As a soloist, Alex has already gained both his DipABRSM and LRSM diplomas in Horn Performance. He was twice a Brass Section Finalist in the BBC Young Musician Competition, in consecutive competitions (2006/2008) and also performed a solo recital at the Wigmore Hall in 2007 by invitation of Richard Watkins. Concerto performances include collaborations with Chetham's Sinfonia, Gorton Philharmonic and Blackburn Symphony orchestras.

 Recent chamber music dates include a British tour of the Dohnanyi Sextet alongside international soloists James Campbell, Martin Roscoe, Mi-Kyung Lee, Graham Oppenheimer and Antonio Lysy; and a performance of the Ligeti Horn Trio in the Barbican Hall, London.

 Alexander will be performing Mozart's 4th Horn Concerto at our June 2011 concert. He has also presented the concerto with the Fylde Sinfonia in March 2006.

Alex would like to thank the Blackpool Symphony Orchestra for the opportunity to perform with them.