A teenager will soon get to hear his music played in front of thousands when a top class orchestra performs one of his compositions at this year’s BBC Proms.

Benjamin Wetherfield, 16, won the chance to have his original piece of music played as part of the much-loved British festival after becoming one of six youngsters to win this year’s BBC Proms Inspire Young Composers Competition.

He said: “I just made a spontaneous decision to enter.

“I had this piece and had heard of the competition because of two successful friends in the past.

“Because of the context I entered it [to win] was really surprising but brilliant. My parents were ecstatic on the day [we got the news] and woke me up - they were screaming.”

As part of the prize the Westminster School student will hear his piano piece, Word in Edgeways, played by the Aurora Orchestra’s pianist John Reed at a recital in the Royal College of Music’s hall.

And following the August 2 performance the composition will also be broadcast nationally on BBC Radio 3, and Benjamin will receive a commission to produce a second piece for the BBC.

A keen member of the Junior Guildhall School of Music, the young pianist said he was already looking forward to future musical projects.

He said: “Part of the prize is receiving a commission from the BBC so I will devote a lot of thought to that when I find out what it is - it is quite nerve-racking.”

He added: “I would love to play more instruments to be honest, I just play piano at the moment but I do play both classical and jazz. It feels like playing two different ones.

“The thing is time restraints limit the number of instruments I could play anyway, it does take a lot of time but i enjoy playing and don’t think of it as a work.”

Composer Fraser Trainer, who helped chair the competition, described Benjamin’s composition as “full of character and invention”.

He said: “[It is] a very exciting piano piece with a language that is very sure of itself, fluid and full.”