THE Southern Cathedrals Festival in Salisbury is a bit of a family affair this year.

Sisters Lingling and Sumei Bao-Smith, former Salisbury Cathedral choristers, will be performing at the Youth in Music concerts during the festival, and brothers Dr Steven Halls, chairman of the Elgar Society, and David Halls, Salisbury Cathedral’s director of music, will collaborate in a lecture recital.

Lingling, who performs today at The Cathedral School, 4pm, said: “It feels great to be back in Salisbury, to perform in the SCF again, I’m really looking forward to it, because I haven’t been back for a while.”

“I will be performing a variety of different songs, and a couple of pieces on the violin.”

She added: “The thing I like most about performing is being able to play and sing pieces that I love, I have chosen all of the songs on my programme and I am really looking forward to performing them in the recital.”

Sumei will be performing on Friday, 4pm, at The Cathedral School. She said: “I will be performing a variety of music for flute, piano, and primarily voice by a variety of different composers from Bach and Mozart to Gershwin and Hageman, all of which I love. I thought I should give a programme of all different periods, so there’s something for everyone to enjoy.”

She said: “I love sharing music through performance whether it’s by myself or as part of a group. I love

knowing that I’m adding to people’s enjoyment while doing something I have a passion for.”

This year the festival is being hosted by Salisbury Cathedral. It runs until Saturday. Tickets can be purchased from Salisbury Playhouse or via the festival box office at Ladywell 33a in the Cathedral Close.