Talented youngster set to study at top music school attended by Nigel Kennedy

After a tough three-day assessment, pianist and violinist Alex Keeley was selected to study at the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin School in Surrey, which has nurtured talents including British violinist and violist Nigel Kennedy.

The move takes the nine-year-old a step closer to her dream of becoming a violinist like her mum Tracy, who has played with showbusiness legends including Stevie Wonder and Whitney Houston.

Proud dad James, a barrister in Leeds, said: “Alex is so delighted, she can’t wait to go”.

The talented child was just four when she took up the two instruments and by the age of five she had won the first of dozens of prizes, beating competition from musicians three years her senior.

At seven she gained a place at the junior department of the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, where she was the youngest student of her year.

And she is one of the youngest musicians ever to be offered a place in the Junior Northern College of Music (JNCM) Orchestra.

The Westville House School pupil’s passion for performing doesn’t leave much time for other hobbies. Mr Keeley said: “She’s very mature but she’s also a very normal little girl. She loves to watch Merlin and she’s got a bunny rabbit called Wallander that she loves to death.”

The whole family plans to move down south, so Alex can still live at home rather than boarding hundreds of miles away.