Throughout the year permanent and temporary stages across Nottinghamshire play host to intimate gigs, open air concerts, theatrical and operatic productions, choirs and brass bands. Every summer Nottingham's Arboretum welcomes performances of all types of music. In 2008, Wollaton Hall was once again the dramatic backdrop to weekend long festival... Splendour. There's always something going on.

Featured events...

Here’s our pick of upcoming musical events…

Campbell Bass Concert
Newstead Abbey, Friday 3 October
- unique concert taking place in the glorious setting of Newstead Abbey. Local swing musician Campbell Bass will serenade 100 guests in the Abbey’s Great Hall. The sounds of classic swing, rhythm and blues and a whole world of romantic ballads will fill the ancestral home of the poet Lord Byron. An evening’s entertainment not to be missed, this intimate concert will be accompanied with the serving of refreshments in the historic cloisters.

Campbell Bass has a sensational voice and whilst his musical style is both wide and varied, he openly confesses the genre of swing as his main love - particularly when performing with his own musicians. Tickets are priced at £20 each and available for purchase from Newstead Abbey house and the gate entrance on the A60 during normal opening hours. www.newsteadabbey.org.uk

Trent FM Arena Nottingham proudly presents...

• James Blunt - 6 October, £32.50 (plus booking fee)
• Queen + Paul Rodgers - 10 October, £49.50 (plus booking fee)
• Adnan Sami - 11 October, £25 - £100 (plus booking fee)
• Bryan Adams - 25 October, £37.50 (plus booking fee)
• Katie Melua supported by Andrea McEwan - 29 October, £28.50 (plus booking fee)
• Scouting for Girls - 16 November, £17.50 (plus booking fee)
• McFly - 21 November, £16/£26 (plus booking fee)
• Paul Weller - 22 November, £30 (plus booking fee)
• Kings of Leon - 2 December, £25 (plus booking fee)
• Daniel O'Donnell - 3 December, £26/£28/£30 (plus booking fee)
• Counting Crows supported by Ben Folds and Melee - 4 December - £33.50
• The Magic of Motown - a tribute to the swinging 60's - 11 December - £23.50
• Stereophonics - 13 December, £29.50 (plus booking fee)
• Status Quo - 19 December, £31.50 (plus booking fee)
• New Kids on the Block - 23 January 2009, £35/£45 (plus booking fee)

...plus many, many more live music events, stand up comedy, family shows and sporting events at www.nottingham-arena.com

Nottingham Classics 2008-2009 season at a glance

Performances at the Royal Concert Hall Nottingham, to book tickets call the box office on 0115 989 5555 or visit www.nottinghamclassics.org.uk

25 October, 7:30pm: Hallé
(Weber Overture: Der Freischutz/Beethoven Triple Concerto/Stravinsky The Rite of Spring)

8 November, 7:30pm: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
(Holst Ballet: The Perfect Fool/Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending/Vaughan Williams A Sea Symphony)

18 November, 7:30pm: sinfonia ViVA
(Beethoven Overture: Coriolan/Barber Violin Concerto/Barber Adagio for Strings/Beethoven Symphony No.5)

4 December, 7:30pm: Hallé Christmas Concert
(Puccini: 'Addio Fiorito Asil' from Madame Butterfly/Donizetti: 'Quanto e Bella' from L'Elisir d'Amore/Flotow: 'M'appari' from Martha/Niles arr. Rutter. 'I wander as I wonder'/Holst. 'In the bleak Midwinter'/Tchaikovsky: Suite from the Nutcracker/Rimsky-Korsakov: Christmas Polonaise)

30 January, 7:30pm: Hallé
(Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis/Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto/Nielsen Symphony No.5)

12 February, 7:30pm: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
(Greig Symphonic Dances/Mendelssohn Violin Concerto/Walton Symphony No.1)

24 February, 7:30pm: sinfonia ViVA
(Wagner Siegfried Idyll/J S Bach Brandenburg Concerto No.3/Mendelssohn Concerto for violin and Piano/Mozart Symphony No.39_

5 March, 7:30pm: Berlin Symphony Orchestra
(Haydn Symphony No.87/Beethoven Piano Concerto No.4/Beethoven Symphony No.3 'Eroica')

23 March, 7:30pm: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
(Glinka Overture: Russlan and Ludmilla/Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1/Schubert Symphony No.9 'The Great')

9 April, 7:30pm: Hallé
(Beethoven Overture: Egmont/Tchaikovsky Variations on a Rococo Theme/Haydn Symphony No.48/Mendelssohn Symphony No.3)

28 April, 7:30pm: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
(Berlioz Overture: Le Corsaire/Ravel Piano Concerto in G/Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet (excerpts))

16 June, 6:00pm: Nottingham Classics Drivetime Concert
(everything you wanted to know about Classical Music but were afraid to ask! Featuring music by Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Sibelius. Plus film music by William Walton and John Williams)

18 June, 7:30pm: Hallé
(Beethoven Fidelio Overture/Brahms Violin Concerto/Dvorak Symphony No.9 'From the New World')

Details coming soon... 2009

• Newark Jazz Festival
May, Newark

• Summer in the Streets
June - August, Mansfield

• Riverside Festival
31 July - 2 August, Victoria Embankment, Nottingham

For further details about city or countywide events, contact Nottingham tourism centre on 08444 77 5678. To be one of the first to know about Notts’ events and special offers, click here and join our quarterly email subscribers list.