Grammy nomination for maestro Simon

One of the West Midlands leading music maestros has been nominated for a Grammy award.

And if Simon Halsey, choral director of the CBSO, wins, the prestigious gong can go alongside the one he picked up last year.

His latest nomination is the second time he's been tipped for the prestigious American accolade, alongside stars such as Amy Winehouse and Beyonce.

Last year he won the accolade for the best choral arrangement, but it was so unexpected he didn't even get a ticket to go to the star-studded ceremony. The award landed on his doorstep in a cardboard box six months later, after spending the previous three months lost in the post. It now sits on his desk.

The 50-year-old, who got the top job in Birmingham music when he was just 23, said: "It's very exciting, of course it is. Last year was all very strange because we knew we were nominated but no one bothered to make any arrangements to collect it. I remember I got a text from a friend in America saying I had won and then I got home sat in front of the television and saw the news and they were making a terrible fuss about Amy Winehouse winning, I just thought, I've got one of those too."

Simon, from Henley-in-Arden in Warwickshire, says he was one of the lucky by-products of the 1980s when youth was a sign of optimism and people barely out of college were given some of the country's top jobs.

He started out as a singer in the Kings College Choir at Cambridge where he studied music.

He then became head of music at Warwick University when he was just 21, and teamed up with conductor Simon Rattle, who was 26 at the time, at the Symphony Orchestra just three years later.

He now spends his time split between Birmingham and Berlin, where he is chorus master for the Berlin Radio Choir, with whom he won this year's Grammy nomination for a recording of Stravinsky's choral music.

Last year he won the award for a recording of Brahms' Requiem, again with the Berlin Radio Choir. Just days ago he was further honoured with a doctorate from Birmingham University.

Now Simon is mid rehearsal for the CBSO's annual Christmas extravaganza, the Carol Concert at Symphony Hall.

Thousands turn out each year for the sing-along concert, and at this year's event, which takes place this Saturday and Sunday, television presenter Carol Smillie will attend to recite some of her favourite festive stories.