NOW in her second year with the National Youth Orchestra, Alton teenager Georgie Davis has had the honour of playing before the Queen.

The occasion was a concert at The Lister Comunity School in London on March 3 to celebrate the work financed by the Queen’s Trust Fund, and as principal clarinet of the orchestra Georgie led the rehearsals with students at the school helped by friends Millie (leader) and Zoe (principal trumpet).

Georgie, 17, said: “Before the concert we took it in turns to guide the young players and advise them on techniques to bring out the best in their playing.

“Around 15 out of 164 of the National Youth Orchestra members were chosen to take part in this event. I have really enjoyed the challenge of working with young people and helping them to have confidence in themselves through positive encouragement in past inspired projects with the orchestra.

“ I think that is why I was one of the players chosen for this role. We had rehearsed an arrangement of Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra with the students on the previous Sunday, where I took the wind players and got to know them by first playing some games with them before working on the piece.”

She continued: “The Queen was given a tour of the school before the performance and when we were waiting for Her Majesty to come in I felt so nervous because I knew I had to do some coaching and I really didn’t want to mess it up in front of her.

“She was sitting directly in front of me when we performed the concert and among the guests were several VIPs, including former news presenter Trevor McDonald, who we chatted to afterwards.

“The Queen smiled and laughed and when she left she turned round and said thank you to us.

“There were loads of policemen and press everywhere, but the occasion had been kept completely confidential and we were not allowed to talk about it to anyone until after the event.”

And Georgie added: “It was such a rewarding experience as you could hear the massive improvement the students made when we helped them out. The headteacher and staff at the school were so grateful for how we had helped the students and made it such a positive experience.”

It has been a busy time for Georgia, who this year is playing both viola and clarinet in the Christmas and summer residences and concerts, and clarinet in the Easter residences and concerts.

She has also played in many venues with the National Youth Orchestra such as the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, Festival Hall, Barbican, and Birmingham Symphony Hall.