A 14-year-old musician has won a national composing award after his original work was selected from more than 400 entries from across the UK.

Luca Boston of Farnham was named a winner in the Lower Junior Category of the BBC Young Composer Competition 2025 for his piece Spectralis.

The competition is open to young composers aged 12 to 18 and attracts entries across a wide range of genres, including classical, contemporary, jazz, pop and electronic music.

As part of his award, Luca will take part in a tailored development programme beginning later this year. He will work with a mentor composer on a project with the BBC Concert Orchestra, culminating in a performance or broadcast.

Luca is currently studying piano and composition at the Purcell School, having previously attended the Royal College of Music Junior Department on Saturdays for four years. Before moving to Purcell, he was a pupil at Aldro School in Shackleford and Barfield School in Farnham.

He began playing the guitar at the age of five before taking up piano at seven, and later learning the violin as a hobby.

After asking for a keyboard, his parents bought him a small Argos mini-keyboard, which he taught himself to play using online tutorials alongside his lessons. He completed Grade eight piano by the age of 11.

His mother, Angela Boston, said neither she nor Luca’s father are particularly musical, although her own father was a flamenco guitarist.

She said: “Luca was always keen to do music. His work ethic is very good and we didn’t have to push him. When he came home from school, he would always want to practise. Sometimes we had to say, ‘Come on, Luca, it’s time for dinner – leave your piano.’”

More than 400 compositions were submitted to the 2025 competition between March and September, all judged anonymously on creativity, originality and compositional ideas.

Luca shared the Lower Junior Category prize with Oskar Wit Baldyga, whose Contrabass Concerto was also named a winning entry.