words: HANNAH LEWIS

Warm up your vocal chords and flex your jazz hands as Cardiff Music Festival (Thurs  4-Sun 7 Oct, times and tickets vary) welcomes all fans of show stopping tunes . Look out for A Night At The Musicals featuring West End talents including Connie Fisher and former Wicked star, Kerry Ellis.

The loveable Mark Watson (Sat 6 Oct, 7.30pm, tickets: £15) returns to his country of birth to share his latest musings on life in the information age. With promises of optional audience interaction and his trademark mild mannered banter, Watson will be appearing at Pontardawe Arts Centre before heading off to Cardiff’s St David’s Hall on Sun 7 Oct.

If you like your nights with a dash of mystery, sign yourself up to the latest Delete party headlined by Kevin Griffiths (Sat 6 Oct, Tickets £8) The secret gig’s venue (within two miles of Cardiff’s city centre) and further details will be announced on the day of the event. A night of great house music can certainly be expected.

Steve Hughes (Thurs 4 Oct, 6.45pm, tickets: £14/£11) brings a rock’n’roll edge to the Glee Club this week. The former heavy metal drummer turned comic will also be visiting the area again in November, when he’ll be playing the Beaufort Theatre in Ebbw Vale.

This week, Swansea welcomes back their annual Festival Of Music And The Arts, including a performance from the BBC National Orchestra Of Wales(Sat 6 Oct, 7.30pm, tickets: from £12). The festival runs until 20 Oct.

The Welsh National Opera perform Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte’ (Wed 3-Fri 6 Oct, 7pm, tickets: from £5) at their Wales Millennium Centre home.

Newport Food Festival (Sat 6 Oct, 10am, admission: free) will set tastebuds tingling this weekend.  Packed with food stalls and chef demonstrations from the likes of The Great British Menu’s Bryn Williams, foodies are bound to find something to their liking.

The National Museum of Wales will once again play host to the Artes Mundi  5 exhibition (Sat 6 Oct –Sun 13 Jan,  admission: free). Seven contemporary artists’ work will be on display for the general public until the New Year, with the £40,000 prize awarded to the winner at the end of November.

The Velvet Underground’s John Cale (Sun 7 Oct, tickets: £22.50) graces the Coal Exchange to promote his new album, Shifty Adventures In Nookie Wood. It’s the first gig the Welsh-born singer has performed in his home country since 2009.

And if you can do only one thing..,.

Oxjam (Sun 7 Oct, 1pm onwards, admission: £9/£6 advance) once again makes its way back to Cardiff.  Combining music with charity, all acts play for free with all proceeds donated to Oxfam. Head down to Womanby Street to catch the day’s events.