Elite colleges vying to tempt teenage violin sensation

A TEENAGE violinist is poised to join the ranks of Scotland's top classical music talent.

Caroline Sharp, 17, from Banff has been offered places at all four of the UK's elite music colleges, with scholarships on offer at two of them.

She attends Aberdeen City Music School, and its director, Stephen Pinnock, called it a "quite exceptional achievement".

Caroline has been offered her pick of the Royal College of Music or the Royal Academy of Music in London, plus scholarships at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow and the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.

Nicola Benedetti, from Ayrshire, another violinist, won the BBC Young Musician of the Year award aged 16. Now 19, she has gone on to release two best- selling albums and has campaigned to shrug off classical's "stuffy image".