The legendary American soprano Jessye Norman returns to the Royal Festival Hall on 21 May for her first London public performance for nearly a decade.  Accompanied by pianist Mark Markham, she will sing repertoire from the American musical theatre songbook including Ellington’s "It don’t mean a thing", Weill’s "The Ballad of Mack the Knife" and Gershwin’s "Summertime".

Other May highlights at the Southbank Centre include:

• Jubilation: the Music of George Benjamin – a major retrospective of the British composer’s work (12 & 13 May)
• London Sinfonietta presents the UK premiere of Harrison Birtwistle’s In Broken Images (24 May)
• A rare recital by American diva Jessye Norman singing songs from the American musical theatre songbook (21 May)
• Borletti-Buitoni Trust concert introduced by Mitsuko Uchida featuring Khatia Buniatishvili, Viviane Hagner, Lawrence Power and Christian Poltéra (4 May)
• Takács Quartet close Southbank Centre’s International Chamber Music Season (16 May)
• Southbank Centre’s International Piano Series features recitals by Yuja Wang (1 May), Lars Vogt (15 May) and Arcadi Volodos (22 May)
• Chorus festival features Singalong Oliver! and a new commission by Mark Ravenhill and Conor Mitchell  as part of A Band of Brothers, the London Gay Men’s Chorus birthday gala performance (5 to 7 May)
• London premiere of Pass the Spoon, David Shrigley’s first ‘sort-of-opera’ about cookery (5 & 6 May)

More information and booking at the Southbank Centre site