ONE of the most outstanding young musicians of the classical world is coming to Malv-ern to perform not one but two concerts.

Sergei Khachatryan, who won the Sibelius Violin Competition in 2000 at the tender age of 15, will be performing a recital concert on Sunday (January 20) and another with full orchestra on Friday, March 8, both in the Forum at Malvern Theatres.

Sergei was born in Armenia in 1985, and both his parents, Irina Hovhannesyan and Vladimir Khachatryan, are concert pianists.

In 1991, Sergei began his music studies on the violin in his home city, before progressing to music schools in Frankfurt, Wrzburg, and Karlsruhe.

In 1996, he was the youngest student attending the masterclasses at Keshet Eilon, Israel, under the direction of Shlomo Mintz, and it was there that he was singled out as a major musical discovery.

He has also been winning top prizes in music competitions since the age of 10 in Rome, Krakow, Germany and Spain. More recently, he has won the Louis Spohr competition in Freibourg, and got second place in the Kreisler Competition in Vienna.

Sergei has an extensive repertoire of works for symphony and chamber orchestra and recitals, which he plays on an 18th Century Guadagnini violin, which is on loan from the Baden-Wttemberg Antique Musical Instruments Society.

He made his UK debut in Oxford last February and will be shortly recording his first CD for EMI.

In February's concert. Sergei will be accompanied by his sister Lusine on piano in a programme which includes works by Schubert, Chausson, Ysaye, Sarasate and F Waxman.

March's concert, in which William Boughton will conduct the ESO, includes Mozart's Jupiter symphony, Violin Concerto in E Minor by Mendelssohn and Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D major, Op61.

For tickets (£6, £10, £15, £19 and £22), call the box office on 01684 892277.