Sixteen-year-old Daniel Marks has won the Lutine Prize at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.

Daniel, a Grade 8 orchestral percussionist, was presented with the accolade — described as the Junior Guildhall’s most prestigious award — for his 20-minute set in which he played three different percussion instruments: the marimba, snare drum and djembe. He won £1,000 and will play with the Junior Guildhall Symphony Orchestra.

Daniel, who recently completed his GCSEs at JFS, tells People: “I definitely didn’t think I would win.”

He says: “I got into percussion as I was always tapping along to music on my knees, so my parents bought me a drum kit.”

A keen performer, he has acted in West End musicals Beauty and the Beast and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and hopes to pursue a career in music or drama.

Daniel, who lives in New Barnet, has studied at the Junior Guildhall since the age of ten and is principal timpanist in their Symphony Orchestra. He will become principal percussionist in the autumn. He is also grade eight in drum kit.

Previous winners of the Lutine Prize include Thomas Adès, Tom Poster and Annabel Thwaite.