A young Stirling-born pianist has won the prestigious St Mary’s Music School Directors Recital Prize.

Sixteen-year-old Anna Michels won against steep competition from 18 other talented young musicians to come through to the final four.

The finalists all played flawless solo pieces at St Mary’s Cathedral in Edinburgh on Tuesday 16 June.

Anna gave an outstanding performance of four pieces at the final – Sonata in D major by Scarletti, Eglogue and La Leggierezza by Liszt and Toccata in D minor, op.11 by Prokofiev.

Anna said: “I am delighted to have won the Director’s Recital Prize. Playing in the final was like a dream. I really appreciated the support everyone showed me on the night.” The other three finalists were 16-year-old violinist Violeta Cubarsi from Barcelona, 17-year-old violinist Richard Montgomery from Linlithgow and 17-year-old bagpiper Brighde Chaimbeul from the Isle of Skye.

St Mary’s Music School is one of the UK’s leading music schools, and is Scotland’s only independent specialist music school. It offers a world class standard of music and academic education to musically gifted children aged 9-19 years.

The Directors’ Recital Prize began in 2001 and is an annual prize funded by the Directors of St Mary’s Music School with the aim of providing pupils with experience of public solo performance in a competition situation.

Anna’s headteacher, Dr Kenneth Taylor, said: “I congratulate Anna on winning this year’s prize after a superlative performance. The very high standard we witnessed is a tribute to the hard work, enthusiasm and musicianship of our pupils, their teachers and accompanists.

Born in Stirling, Anna started playing piano aged seven. She entered the Junior Academy of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2009 and gained a place at St Mary’s Music School in 2013 where she is about to enter her final year.