Cheshire-based composer Adam Gorb has added yet another string to his bow.

Mr Gorb, whose works have been broadcast and recorded worldwide, has been honoured at the British Composer Awards.

He won the wind band/brass brand category for his composition, Farewell. Mr Gorb, 51, tells People. “The piece was inspired by Haydn’s Farewell Symphony but sounds nothing like it.”

Also a full-time time teacher at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, where he is head of composition, Mr Gorb started composing at the age of ten.

He gained a MMus degree from the Royal Academy of Music, where he graduated with the highest honours, including the Principal’s Prize in 1993. He says he gets inspired to write by a variety of sources. “It might be something I have read, or a piece of music, or a painting.” His more recent works include Towards Nirvana, which won a British Composer award in 2004.

While much of his time is dedicated to teaching, he says: “The good thing about composition is that there is no retirement date. You can go on for ever.”