Nigel Jarrett casts a cultured eye over the next few weeks to help you plan your days and nights out

ALL who saw the touring Royal Shakespeare Company in Gwent a couple of years ago will be pleased to know that they are back.

The company promised at the time to return, but they couldn't say when or where.

The lucky hosts this time will be Ebbw Vale leisure centre, where the RSC roadshow will be transforming a bare space into a fully operational, professional theatre.

From Tuesday, October 19, to Saturday, October 23, they will be presenting Julius Caesar, and The Two Gentlemen of Verona.

What's more, the first play will be directed by David Farr, formerly artistic director of London's Gate Theatre and described by one national newspaper critic as now in the front rank of Shakespearian directors.

The company really does create its own intimate auditorium inside its touring venues, so you wouldn't guess where you were if you didn't know - except at the centre of Shakespeare's imagination.

The British jazz scene is still coming to terms with the death of promoter, artistic director and general go-getter Jed Williams, who died suddenly last year at the helm of the Brecon Jazz Festival.

A memorial concert for him will be held at the St David's Hall, Cardiff, Jazz on the Level event on November 16 by the Gareth Williams Trio and the Welsh Jazz Composers Orchestra. Having known Jed, I don't think it will be sombre.

Two days later, saxophonist Jan Garbarek will be playing in the hall's main auditorium, testimony to the interest Jed Williams helped to create in the wider jazz world by bringing international performers to South Wales.

On October 12, Welsh National Opera parades more of its young singers on the recital platform when sopranos Anna Ryberg and Arlene Rolph give a lunchtime concert at St David's Hall, Cardiff, with the excellent Michael Pollock at the piano. Admission £5 (over-60s £4).

Three older singers, Morgan Lee James, Geoff Coles and James Fitzgerald, are at Blackwood Miners' Institute on October 30 with their entertaining Tenorissimo show, proving that Pavarotti and co devised an attractive formula for those who like their opera singers without greasepaint (box office, 01495 227206).

Russian music dominates the London Philharmonic Orchestra's visit to St David's Hall on October 28 under the brilliant Vassily Sinaisky, with Rimsky-Korsakov's Schehere-zade crowning the evening (box office, 02920878444).