EVEN before Christmas is here, spring is in the air in Ludlow with the arrival of the new season’s brochure, packed with plenty to entertain through the early months of 2012.

There’s music, dance and an exciting programme of big screen showings of world-class opera and ballet, starting on January 20 with Massenet’s Cendrillon (Cinderella) recorded at the Royal Opera House earlier this year.

Other Royal Opera House screenings include a recording of Il Trittico, three contrasting oneact works by Puccini on Thursday, February 9, a live screening of Rigoletto on Tuesday, April 17 and a live broadcast of La Fille Mal Gardee, choreographed by Frederick Ashton and performed by The Royal Ballet Company.

Live performances at the venue during the spring include some explosive music, first from Gypsy Unit, a ‘genre-defying collective from Bristol’ appearing in Oscars on Friday, January 27, then on February 8, Gypsy Fire, a dynamic quartet of award-winning musicians determined to demonstrate what can be done with real instruments.

An extraordinary evening of fiery gypsy fiddle music and dances from Hungary, Transylvania and beyond is promised from the Jani Lang Band, following two Eastern European workshops earlier in the evening – one for dancers, the other for musicians.

February also brings King Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys – more than 50 TV appearances and 75 radio broadcasts have established them as the Kings of Swing – while March sees the arrival of the eclectic mix of Chicago/swing and Dixieland of Richard Leach’s 7 Stars of Jazz.

Tributes to big musical acts come from Darkside, performing The Pink Floyd Show on Saturday, March 17, and Clive John re-creating the Man in Black’s timeless sound with The Spirit Band and Jill Schoonjans as June Carter in The Johnny Cash Roadshow.

There’s folk music, too, from Belinda O’Hooley (formerly with The Unthanks) and Heidi Tidow, the women behind the groundbreaking Silent June, one of MOJO magazine’s top 10 folk albums of 2010, and from Karine Polwart, the the award-winning Scottish folk singer-songwriter.

Brilliant young violinist Alina Ibragimova makes her Academy of Ancient Music debut on Saturday, March 3, in a programme called The Birth of the Concerto, which vividly charts ground-breaking developments in the role of the violin as a solo instrument.

Comedy comes from Perrier Award winner Dan Antopolski (March 2), a regular on Radio 2’s Out to Lunch, and Mark Steel (March 15), back on the road after his highly acclaimed, award-winning Radio 4 comedy show, Mark Steel’s in Town, will be shedding light on the quirkiness of Ludlow.

Drama sees the return of local theatre company Pentabus in For Once, a heartbreaking but darkly comic new play inspired by a week spent by Welsh playwright Tim Price in a market town on the Welsh borders.

Mix in a series of exhibitions by local artists Brontë Woodruff, Anthea Stillwell and Isobel Hutton, Sleeping Beauty from European Ballet and, in complete contrast, Return to the Forbidden Planet presented by the students of Ludlow College, not to mention more music, talks and workshops, and it’s clear that spring 2012 offers a wealth of exciting entertainment for Ludlow.

Booking is now open to Friends, general booking opens on December 15. For details, or to book, call the box office on 01684 878141 or go to ludlowassemblyrooms.

co.uk.