BURY musician Lawrence Yates will be blowing his own horn at a major concert this weekend in Bolton.

Lawrence, director of Bury Music Service, plays solo lead in Schumann's "Konzertstuck" with Bolton Symphony Orchestra on Saturday (March 23) at the Albert Halls, Bolton.

The piece is for four horns and orchestra, and his former horn students will take the other parts. They are John Parkinson, Jeremy Ainsworth and Chris Wormald, Classic FM Teacher of the Year.

Mr Yates began playing the horn aged 16, when he was forced by his school to choose between art, tech drawing and music. He couldn't draw, hated anything technical and so fell into the music stockroom where he found a horn!

After tricking his parents into buying him an instrument (they thought the school was buying it) he went on to Bretton Hall and after three years took up a job as horn teacher in Bury.

He is a member of the Dulcian Wind Quintet and the Waldhorn Quartette, a horn quartet based in Limoges, France and plays regularly with several orchestras in the north of England.

The concert will also feature Shostakovich's Symphony no.7, "Leningrad" conducted by Bob Chasey, principal second violin with the BBC Philharmonic.

Bolton Symphony Orchestra is made up of non-professional musicians from around the North-West.

The concert starts at 7.30pm. Tickets from 01204 334400.