Fourteen-year-old cellist Misha Favis has won a scholarship to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School of Music in London.

South African Misha arrived in the UK with his mother earlier this year to embark on the course at the Surrey-based school. Misha, who has performed with Johannesburg's Symphony Orchestra and Philharmonic, was picked for the honour by the Jewish Music Institute (JMI) as part of their new prodigy project to help outstanding musicians achieve their potential. They are helping to fund him. JMI supporters were impressed with Misha when he gave a recital at Burgh House in Hampstead, north London.

Misha tells People: "I think I was born into music. I started listening to the double base when I was eight months old, and by the age of three I was playing the violin. But the cello is definitely my instrument. When I am not playing it feels like part of me is missing. I like the juiciness of the sound and the feeling of my fingers on the board - it is amazing."

His Jewish repertoire includes Bloch's Nigun and Kol Nidre: "My favourite music is classical and I also like Indian and world music. I have favourite composers rather than favourite pieces. I don't really listen to pop.

"The school has exposed me to music at a completely different level, it is brilliant. I get individual tuition and have classes with other students. We have concerts often twice a week. It is quite a long day but I am coping well with the routine. I'm a big fan of meditation and yoga and it keeps me going."

His ambition is to be a soloist and play around the world - although when he was younger he had other ideas. "I wanted to be an Egyptologist or an architect."

Composing is as important to Misha as playing and his latest project, a phantasia for orchestra and choir, has taken eight months so far. "I am hoping to finish it soon. A lot of things come to me in my dreams, then I remember them when I sit down to compose."