DIANA, an orchestral concert with film backdrop celebrating the life of Diana Princess of Wales, will make its UK debut in Southampton this weekend.

The event, in aid of Children in Need and youth music projects, will feature Southampton University Symphony Orchestra and take place at the Turner Sims on Saturday.

Diana the concert showcases the music of American composer Lucius Craig Cervantes blended with film of the 101 Diana paintings by Hampshire artist Melanie Anne Sanderson.

Craig’s fiancée discovered Melanie’s art on the internet by chance, and realised that their two works, though from different genres, perfectly complemented each other. During 2016 they began working on a project to bring the two Diana tributes closer together in a live concert.

They are billing the event as music and visual art woven together in a transatlantic tapestry.

Melanie told the Daily Echo: “~One image will stay fixed in my mind for ever. A smartly dressed businessman with a tear in his eye carried a single red rose to the gates of Kensington Palace. I knew then that I would paint Diana, but little did I realise I would go on to paint her 101 times.”

On the other side of the Atlantic, Craig’s Queen of Hearts music was also inspired as a tribute to Diana following her untimely death in Paris in 1997.

Craig’s work was recorded by The London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios during the autumn of 2015. His Queen of Hearts centre piece had its USA premiere by the Missouri Symphony Orchestra the following year.

Craig is travelling to the UK to attend the concert, which gets under way at 3pm.

Tickets, are on sale now from 023 8059 5151 or turnersims.co.uk