TALENTED musician Roopa Panesar was once juggling a career in chemical engineering with her true passion of performing enchanting melodies.

Nine years ago, she seized an opportunity to concentrate on playing the sitar — a stringed Indian instrument — and has never looked back.

On Friday, April 24, she will appear at a concert at Bolton's Octagon Theatre, accompanied by world-renowned tabla maestro, Kousic Sen.

Roopa, from Leicester, started playing the instrument at the age of seven and went on to become one of the finest sitar players to have emerged from the UK.

She said: "If it's a first-time concert for people, it will be an experience of beautiful sounds.

"It tends to be quite a journey, starting from a slow piece which builds up into a big crescendo.

"It's often compared to a spiritual journey.

"The sitar is one of the most popular North Indian stringed instruments, a lute-type instrument.

"It came about in the late 1700s."

In the world of pop music, The Beatles' George Harrison is recognised as having introduced the instrument to the West, taking lessons from Pandit Ravi Shankar and first playing one on 1965 song Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown).

Roopa said: "It's a very beautiful, ethereal sound.

"It has the capability of playing slow but also quite fast.

"I was actually seven-years-old when I started learning.

"My cousins used to play and I was very drawn to it, I loved the sound.

"I was really encouraged by my parents, they ensured I practised every day.

"I had an amazing tutor.

"I was very inspired, I wanted to try and master the techniques when I was little."

Roopa qualified as a chemical engineer at university, going on to work in the oil and gas industry, and it was not until nine years ago that she turned her attention to music full-time.

A disciple of renowned tutor and performer, Dharambir Singh, she has also received guidance from other musical maestros, including Pandit Arvind Parikh.

The mother-of-one said: "I would not call music a hobby, it's very much part of your life.

"But I did not ever think it would be my every day work.

"It's something that came about when I went on maternity leave from the engineering work.

"During that time, I started getting a lot of musical opportunities and I never looked back.

"I didn't particularly enjoy engineering.

"I would go to work and still be dreaming about music.

"I would just do my nine to five and come home and practise, still kind of doing concerts and things.

"I would almost be managing two careers, that was before my daughter came into my life."

Having toured the UK, Europe, America and India, this will be Roopa's first visit to the Octagon.

Roopa Panesar and Kousic Sen will be at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton, at 7.30pm on Friday, April 24.

Tickets cost £12 or £10 concessions. Call 01204 520661.