Matthew Smith, an 11-year-old Nottingham Elementary school student from the UK, will soon become the youngest person to ever conduct an orchestra. A master of five musical instruments – violin, viola, piano, drums and guitar – he was inspired to take up conducting after watching a video of an Uzbekistani boy leading a performance of the overture from Johann Strauss’ operetta Die Fledermaus. Smith became infatuated with the score, and now, four years later, can conduct it from memory. Next month, he will get the chance to do so, with the 75-piece Nottingham Symphony Orchestra – described by The Sunday Telegraph Magazine as “arguably the premiere amateur orchestra in Britain”.

Smith’s music teacher and mentor Derek Williams told Sky News he is one of the most talented children he has worked with. “He undoubtedly does have a natural ability but he hasn’t finished learning. He’s doing lots of good things and he has a long way to go, but the orchestra is very supportive of what he is doing and hopefully come the time of his first concert he will be ready.”

^Matthew...