The Woking Young Musician of the Year competition will be held on Saturday, February 8 at St John's Church from 7pm.

Outstanding performers aged 14 to 20 at last year’s Woking Music Festival (WMF) are invited to participate in concert conditions.

The adjudicator for Young Musician (YM) of the Year will be prominent oboe player George Caird.

George studied the oboe at the Royal Academy of Music and has worked with many major orchestras, including the London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony and City of London Sinfonia. He was a member of The Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields from 1983 to 1993.

Cash prizes are awarded to Woking YM winners and a bursary is also awarded to study at a summer school. This year there will be participants who reached the semi-finals of the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition.

The young musicians competing are among the best in their field of music, with some having achieved exceptional grades at the WMF in November last year.

Other awards that will be presented at the event include Woking Junior Musician of the Year, Most Promising Young Singer, Most Promising Young actor, and a chamber music award.

The WMF is a celebration of the musical and literary vitality of Woking and the surrounding area, welcoming people of all ages and abilities.

The festival is one of the largest of its kind in the south-east with around 1,000 people taking part each year. More than 90 trophies are competed for in more than 200 classes and subjects include musicals, jazz, classical music, school choirs, speech and drama.

For more information and for tickets, visit wokingmusicfestival.org.uk. Tickets, costing £14 for each adult, can be purchased from the website from January 18 or on the door. Children under 18 are free.