PIANIST Emmanuel Vass, who grew up near York, returns to the city tomorrow night to play the National Centre for Early Music as he chases the top spot in the classical charts with his self-promoted album Sonic Waves.

"The album was crowd-funded and has sold enough copies to make a top ten entry, with no agent, manager, or record label: they rejected me originally," says Emmanuel, a Royal Northern College of Music double scholar, who was educated at Woldgate School, Pocklington.

"I'm doing this all myself, with 5am starts as a perk of the job, alongside working full time as a piano teacher and lecturer. Now it's a race for the classical number one for a mixed race, underdog carpenter's son!"

Emmanuel was "broadcast massively" on primetime Classic FM last night, performing virtuosic Saint-Saens pieces on the Drive show. He is playing York as part of a 24-date tour, again doing all the organising, promoting and even ticket selling himself. You will not find tomorrow's concert listed on the NCEM website because he is running the 7.30pm show entirely independently, so tickets are available only through emmanuelvass.co.uk or on the door.

Meanwhile, for a flavour of his musical skills, he can be watched on YouTube in a "unique, once-in-a-lifetime" short video playing a grand piano on Chatsworth House's lawn.

Emmanuel was born and brought up at Melbourne, near Pocklington, after his Filipino mother, Sheila, came to Britain with his English father, her husband Nick. In March last year, he took to the West End stage alongside musical theatre stars to raise money for the Typhoon Haiyan relief appeal.

His soaring career had seen him perform for the Philippines ambassador in London, and when West End producer Cameron Mackintosh contacted the embassy about staging a charity concert at the Queen’s Theatre after the typhoon, Emmanuel’s name was put forward.