INTERNATIONALLY acclaimed Poole Cellist Natalie Clein returns to the Wessex region at the weekend when she appears as guest soloist with the Salisbury Sinfonia at the city's St Thomas' Church.

Clein first made headlines more than a decade ago when she was still a pupil at Bournemouth's Talbot Heath School.

She won the 1994 BBC Young Musician of the Year award and went on to gain top honours in a Pan European competition before being invited to study at the Royal College Of Music.

Regarded as one of the finest talents of her generation, she has over the past 10 years become one of the most sought-after soloists on the international concert circuit. She has also enjoyed an ever-growing profile and last year was among the winners in the Classical Brits.

Her apperance in Salisbury on Saturday, May 13 will find her teaming up with the city's Sinfonia and conductor Tim Murray for a performance of Schumann's Cello Concerto. The concert will open with a haunting work by one of Britain's most distinguished composers.

Colin Matthews who is currently Prince Consort Composer in residence at the Royal College of Music and composer-in-association to the Hall Orchestra. His piece Night Music is dedi-cated to the memory of music-ologist Deryck Cooke.

The programme concludes with ballet music - La Bote Joujoux (The Toybox), one of Debussy's last orchestral compositions that was inspired by the games of his daughter Chouchou.