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Superstar singer Elvis Costello is to play a special homecoming gig at the Philharmonic Hall.
He is to return to his roots and join the RLPO to perform extracts from his first full scale classical orchestral work, Il Sogno, on June 25.
As well as his classical score, based on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, he will also perform a selection of his most famous songs.
Now living in the US and married to jazz pianist Diana Krall, the 53-year-old singer/songwriter has clearly not forgotten his Merseyside roots.
Last Summer he played a sold-out fund-raising gig at the new Picket in Jordan Street, and more recently collaborated with Amsterdam on "Don't Throw Your Love Away" for the Liverpool Number One Project charity album.
Born Declan Patrick MacManus to a jazz band leader father and a Liverpudlian mother, Costello reflected the new music oozing from the city in those early years of rock and roll, and became a regular performer at the Temple Bar off Dale Street.
Bursting on to the New Wave punk scene in the 1970s and 80s with his band The Attractions, he went on to become one of the most influential British musicians in America.
In a career spanning more than 25 years, the Liverpool FC fan has performed with industry legends from Burt Bacharach to Paul McCartney and if imitation is the highest form of flattery then Costello is not short of compliments.
Covers of his work have been performed by the likes of Dusty Springfield, Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash.
The event is part of the 10-night Summer Pops at the Phil season, which will also include Paul McCartney's Ecce cor Meum, John Lennon Songbook, Great Film Themes and Last Night of the Proms.
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