Sting and Sir Paul McCartney will go head-to-head at this year's Classical Brit Awards.

The duo are more used to battling it out in the pop charts.

But they have been nominated for the classical Album of the Year award after a change of musical direction.

Sting's Songs From The Labyrinth is an album of 16th century lute music.

Sir Paul is nominated for his classical oratorio, Ecce Cor Meum (Behold My Heart), a recording in English and Latin with members of the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields.

Other contenders for Album of the Year include Welsh singers Katherine Jenkins and Bryn Terfel, mechanic-turned-tenor Alfie Boe and teen violinist Nicola Benedetti.

Benedetti, 19, leads the field with three nominations in total.

Besides Album of the Year, she is in the running for Young British Classical Performer and Instrumentalist of the Year.

She began playing the violin aged four and is a former BBC Young Musician of the Year.

This Morning presenter Fern Britton will host this year's ceremony from London's Royal Albert Hall on May 3.

The winner of the Album of the Year will be chosen by Classic FM listeners and Classic FM magazine readers.

Full List of Nominations

Singer of the Year
Anna Netrebko - Russian Album & Violetta
Rolando Villazon - Opera Recital
Simon Keenlyside - Tales of Opera

Instrumentalist of the Year
Alison Balsom - Bach/Works for Trumpet & Caprice
Leif Ove Andsnes - Horizons
Nicola Benedetti - Mendelssohn/Concerto for Violin

Classical Recording of the Year
Berlin Philharmonkier/Sir Simon Rattle - Holst/The Planets
LSO/Sir Colin Davis - Sibelius/Kullervo
The Sixteen/Harry Christophers - Ikon

Contemporary Composer of the Year
John Adams - The Dharma at Big Sir/My Father Knew Charles Ives
Karl Jenkins - Kiri Sings Karl & TLEP
Sir Peter Maxwell-Davies - Naxos Quartets Nos 5 & 6

Soundtrack Composer of the Year
John Williams - Munich
George Fenton - Planet Earth
James Newton Howard - The Village

Album of the Year
Alfie Boe - Classic FM Presents
All Angels - All Angels
Bryn Terfel - Tutto Mozart
Katherine Jenkins - Serenade
Libera - Angel Voices
Nicola Benedetti - Mendelssohn/Concerto for Violin
Paul McCartney/Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields/Greenaway - Ecce Cor Meum
Sting - Songs From The Labyrinth
The Fron Male Voice Choir - Voices From The Valley
The Sixteen/Harry Christophers - Ikon

Critics' Award
Bryn Terfel - Tutto Mozart
Freiberg Baroque Orchestra/RIAS Kammerchoice/Rene Jacobs - Mozart/La Clemenza di Tito
Rolando Villazon - Opera Recital

Young British Classical Performer
Nicky Spence - The Scottish Tenor
Nicola Benedetti - Mendelssohn/Concerto for Violin
Ruth Palmer - Shostakovich/Violin Concert No 1 and Sonata for Violin and Piano

Lifetime Achievement
Dr Vernon Handley