BRITAIN'S most popular soprano is scheduled to share an evening of song, reminiscence and conversation at the King's Hall later this year.

"An Evening with Lesley Garrett" will be presented by the Friends of the King's Hall & Winter Garden on Wednesday,October 21. The occasion promises to give the audience a unique behind the scenes insight into the singer's life on stage. Lesley Garrett's richly varied career has garnered acclaim in opera houses around the world and in the West End theatre where she has played Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music and Nettie Fowler in Carousel.

Lesley has performed with artists as diverse as Michael Ball, Renee Fleming, Andrea Bocelli, Bryn Terfel, Bryan Ferry and Lily Savage. Her many television appearances on BBC's Strictly Come Dancing, ITV's Loose Women and C4's Countdown are legendary. Recent operatic engagements have included Poulenc's La Voix Humaine for Opera North, Chorus! - a fully staged extravaganza for Welsh National Opera, and Mozart's Cosi fan tutte for Garsington Opera. The Doncaster-born soprano returns to Opera North next year to star in the world premiere of Mark Simpson and Melanie Challenger's chamber opera Pleasure.

Next autumn, Lesley will be touring theatres across the UK with her popular solo show. The informal style of these occasions will enable this ebullient personality to share anecdotes and memories from a dazzling career on stage. But the evenings will of course be mainly musical.

In Ilkley, Opera North's head of music, Martin Pickard, will accompany Lesley at the piano in a programme of much loved operatic arias and songs from the shows. The acclaimed singer and media personality will be in conversation with John Thirlwell.

An Evening with Lesley Garrett takes place at the King's Hall on Wednesday, October 21 at 7.30pm. Tickets from £20 to £26 will be available from July 1 at Ilkley Visitor Information Centre.