A FORMER Culcheth High School pupil will be among hundreds of professional musicians when she performs at the 120th BBC Proms.

Chelsea Carmichael will play the saxophone in the Guy Barker Big Band which will be paying tribute to the swing era on Tuesday.

The 22-year-old said: "It’s exciting. I’ve always really enjoyed doing big band work and I get the chance to do it alongside some of the best players on the London jazz scene so it’s a great opportunity for me."

Chelsea, who grew up in Newchurch Lane, is now studying at London’s Trinity Conservatoire of Music and Dance but she first found inspiration in Culcheth High School's swing band.

She added: "My first experience of big band playing started at Culcheth High School under the direction of ex-teacher at the school Mark Peacock and he was a great supporter of my earlier years starting out."

Chelsea, who learned piano when she was 10 and the saxophone when she was 12, also has her own quartet, which performed at this year’s London Jazz Festival, and co-leads a six-piece band called Yesa Sikyi.

She played a homecoming show with Yesa Sikyi at The Village Club in Wigshaw Lane on Sunday before performing at Manchester Jazz Festival on Tuesday.

The band will also be at the Lancaster Jazz Festival on September 20.

Chelsea, a member of the National Youth Orchestra, said: "Seeing the result of hours of hard work in the practise room come together on stage and have an audience come to watch you and enjoy it is for me the best feeling.

"There’s nothing more appealing to me than being able to make a life-long career out of something you love and to be able travel, experience new things and meet new people in the process."