Joshua calls tune with top flute prize

A YOUNG flautist from Oldham has won a top classical music accolade.

Joshua Batty (18) won the Sussex Prize for a woodwind player of promise at the Royal Overseas League Annual Music Competition, which came with a £1,000 cash prize.

Joshua, from Silverdale Drive, Lees, is a former Rushcroft Primary School pupil who went on to Hulme Grammar for a year before starting his musical studies in earnest at Chetham’s School of Music, Manchester.

He is now in his first year at one of the world’s top music conservatories — the Royal Academy of Music, in London, studying for a degree in music. Joshua has already won numerous competitions including the Halle Future Champions Gold Medal and has been principal flute with the National Youth orchestra of Great Britain (2009-10) and the University of London Symphony Orchestra (from 2010). He tackled three rounds of fierce competition to win the prestigious award.

He said: “My long-term aim is to keep studying music and eventually become part of an orchestra.

“Being part of an orchestra, rather than a soloist, means you learn a wider range of music.”