Decca Classics has signed its first recorder player: 16-year-old Lucie Horsch. The Dutch musician’s debut album is released today and will include four concertos (including La notte and La tempesta di mare) and two arias by Vivaldi.

Decca said that it hoped the signing would challenge ‘any notion that the recorder is simply a “learning” instrument’ and that Horsch would become a musical ambassador for the recorder.

Born into a musical family (both parents are professional cellists), Horsch began to study the recorder aged five. In 2014 she represented Holland in the Eurovision Young Musician Contest, and won the Concertgebouw Young Talent Award earlier this year.

Dr Alexander Buhr, managing director of Decca Classics, said: ‘We are enormously excited to welcome Lucie to the Decca family. She is full of energy, and a player of remarkable musicality and virtuosity. We believe Lucie is a perfect ambassador for her instrument, which is so meaningful to millions of kids in the UK and abroad.’