NOVEMBER may well be the month when the weather begins to get colder but you can guarantee the temperatures will be going up at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall with a top line-up of stars who will be appearing there in the coming weeks.

This Wednesday, November 2, it’s a touch of the Blues.

Inspired by the the musical footsteps of Billie Holiday and Diana Ross singing superstar Rebecca Ferguson brings her new tour, Lady Sings the Blues, to Symphony Hall starting at 7.30pm..

A couple of days later Scottish-born and Los Angeles based, KT Tunstall will be on stage on the evening of Friday, November 4.

Popular singer and broadcaster Elaine Paige has announced a series of concerts, entitled ‘Stripped Back’, which will see her perform her favourite tracks, from an array of contemporary songwriters, with a small group of musicians but at weekends only.

Already on the road this latest journey follows Elaine’s last solo tour in 2014 which was a sell-out celebratory concert encompassing her incredible 50 year career and saw her say “farewell” to a full touring schedule.

“I’m so excited about this series of ‘weekend’ concerts. Having made the decision not to do a back to back tour again, this appealed to me not only because of the schedule, but as I’ve marked my 50 years on stage, this is going to allow me to do something completely different, a brand new show celebrating the contemporary songwriters I love such as Harry Nilsson, Randy Newman, Jim Webb, Burt Bacharach, Leonard Cohen, Sting, Elton John, Lennon & McCartney … the list goes on,” said Elaine.

She added: “Their music has been the soundtrack to all our lives, not just mine. And its the ideal opportunity to perform in an intimate way … I recently played the Royal Albert Hall with the 60 piece BBC Concert Orchestra … I’m doing these new shows ‘Stripped Back!”

Elaine has performed live in concert all over the world and as a recording artist has worked with legendary producers such as Tony Visconti, Dennis Lambert, Peter Matz and Phil Ramone amongst others and has released 22 solo albums (four multi-Platinum and nine Gold,) been featured on seven cast recordings and has had major worldwide hits with songs such as Memory (Cats) and I Know Him So Well (Chess).

As a musical theatre performer Elaine has made a major contribution to the modern musical. She has starred in more smash hit West End and Broadway musicals than anyone else of her generation and continues to present the hugely successful weekly BBC Radio 2 show Elaine Paige on Sunday, which is devoted to musical theatre and film music, and continues to delight audiences of over 2.5 million listeners each week with its mix of music, news and interviews.

She emerged with her 2004 debut Eye To The Telescope and soon after won a BRIT Award, an Ivor Novello Award and earned Grammy and Mercury Prize nominations.

Since then her music has figured prominently in film and television.

Her tour will also take in a visit to Malvern’s Forum Theatre on Saturday, November 12 at 7.45pm.

One of the pop world’s veterans, David Essex, will be following Elaine into Symphony Hall the week after, on Tuesday, November 8.

He is is one of the only artistes in the world to have achieved success in all areas of entertainment and this new tour will celebrate just that!

A couple of nights later, on Thursday, November 10 at 8pm Anoushka Shankar will continue to push the limits of the sitar, not only in the traditional Indian classical form, but also by breaking boundaries and working with new sounds and art forms.

Returning to Birmingham for the last of his three Rachmaninov Project concerts, it will be a real treat to witness supreme pianist-conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy accompany a young star of the calibre of Alice Sara Ott in one of the greatest of all Russian piano concertos – Tchaikovsky’s First.

Rachmaninov’s volcanic First Symphony is less familiar – though when you hear Ashkenazy conduct it, you’ll wonder why and you can find out on Tuesday, November 15 (7.30pm).

Towards the end of the month two of the greatest voices in the world take to the Symphony Hall stage for a unique headline tour.

They are the nation's leading musical theatre star, Michael Ball, and the nation's favourite tenor, Alfie Boe. They will be performing for two nights on Monday and Tuesday, November 28 and 29 at 7.30pm.

And then for something a touch different you can have the opportunity this Christmas to wear your best pyjamas and take part in the magic of The Midnight Gang at the family event of the season with No.1 best-selling children’s author, David Walliams, at his biggest event yet!

At this event on the morning of Sunday, November 20 (10.30am), and hosted by CBBC presenter, Katie Thistleton, you’ll get to hear David read from his new book, The Midnight Gang, as well as the chance to meet some of your favourite characters from the book (including the loveable Raj).

£1 from every ticket purchased will go to support the fantastic work of the Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

Birmingham’s Town Hall venue also has some excellent shows coming up.

These include the Afro Celt Sound System, who were formed more than 20 years ago when Simon Emmerson brought a group of musicians from the UK and Africa to Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios.

Since then, they have released a “trail-blazing” fusion of African and Celtic music, all of which stood be quite unique and unmissable. They appear on Monday, November 7 at 7pm.

Towards the end of the month a truly global artist, Agnes Obel, demonstrates a rare ability to connect with a broad audience across many boundaries.

After she was discovered on MySpace her debut album, Philharmonics, was certified five-times Platinum in her native Denmark, Platinum in Belgium and France, and Gold in Holland, as well as winning her five major awards at the 2011 Danish Music Awards.

She’s on stage on the evening of Tuesday, November 29.