A talented young orchestral conductor narrowly missed out on a big prize but is preparing for his next big event.

Quentin Clare, 26, of First Avenue, Newhaven, reached the last three in the recent BBC Young Conductors competition finals.

He remains upbeat about the future despite missing out on first place and is currently living and working in The Netherlands.

Quentin said: "It was such a fantastic week working with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra that it more than made up for not winning.

"I was very pleased for the guy who eventually won and all three finalists agreed it really didn't matter in the end."

Quentin, who is principal conductor of the Nijmegen University Orchestra in The Hague, started his musical career early.

He wrote the music for a Christmas production of Aladdin while a ten-year-old pupil at Southdown School in Newhaven but switched to conducting.

He said: "It got to the point when I wasn't composing anything original and was conducting more, so I just switched over."

He is now preparing for a conducting contest in Leeds later this year.