Two very talented young musicians from the Purcell School in Bushey have reached the finals of the BBC Young Musician 2014, in its newly-introduced jazz category.

Sean Payne, 13, from Barnet, and Jake Labazzi, 16 and from Highgate, are two of just five to make it through to the final.

This is the first year the competition has added a jazz award alongside the established classical music format.

Jake, who plays trumpet, joined the Bushey school in 2007, while Sean, who plays jazz saxophone, joined in 2013.

“I was excited!“ says Sean, who has played the saxophone for five years. “I didn’t expect to get through, so I was really, really pleased.“

“I didn’t expect to get through either,“ says Jake, who has been playing the trumpet for more than nine years, “so it was great.“

The boys had to go through a number of stages to make it to the category finals, including the initial round where they had to send in a video of themselves performing, and then a performance audition, in Cardiff, where they had to perform with the BBC Young Musician house trio.

“We were only given 15 minutes to rehearse a 14-minute set,“ laughs Sean.

A number of Jake and Sean’s fellow Purcell pupils, and their teachers, will be taking a minibus to Cardiff for the finals next weekend. They will be joined in the audience by Jake’s parents Lisa and David, and 11-year-old brother Max, who also studies trumpet at Purcell, and Sean’s parents Maria and Gerald, both of whom play classical alto sax, and his nine-year-old sister Lily, who plays the clarinet.

“We’re a little bit nervous, obviously,“ says Jake, “but it should be alright.”

  • Sean and Jake will perform at the BBC Young Musician 2014 awards on Saturday, March 8 at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff. Details: purcell-school.org