The Summer Season is bursting with treats – from ground-breaking and innovative new theatrical productions to a music programme that could be the soundtrack to your summer, we are sure that you will find something to take your fancy.

Dance fans will be pleased to hear that this year Warwick Arts Centre is a host venue for the International Dance Festival Birmingham, presenting controversial dance show from Canadian Dave St-Pierre Company. Un peu de tendresse bordel de merde! (A little tenderness for crying out loud!) is about the search for love and the human form. Using humour to tackle taboo subjects, the most controversial moment occurs when the 20 dancers, stark naked save their blond wigs, frolic in the auditorium “clambouring” over audiences, sitting on their laps and generally assaulting their senses. The piece then goes on to investigate the gulf between violence and tenderness in contemporary society, with a comedic female narrator leading the audience on this emotional journey.

Our theatre programme delves into the human psyche and explores what makes us who we are. Paternal relationships come under the microscope in Our Fathers from Birmingham-based company Babakas, brotherly love is the focus of the new play Black T-Shirt Collection, written and performed by poet, playwright and Edinburgh Fringe First award-winner Inua Ellams and the interaction between differing peoples and the impact of colonialism is the underlying theme in Kafka’s Monkey, featuring an astonishing central performance from Olivier award-winning actress Kathryn Hunter.

Turning our attention to music, Brazillian artist Céu is the biggest selling Brazillian artist in the UK, whose fresh electropical sound is emblematic of her hometown Sao Paulo, the intensely urban, epicentre of the independent music scene in Brazil and a buzzing hotbed of invention and musical breakthrough. Join Céu and Curumin at Warwick Arts Centre on 22 Apr for an entertaining night of the best new Brazilian music.

In May we are delighted to welcome back English Touring Opera (ETO) who will be performing two productions in English translation over a four night run performing The Barber of Seville and also revisiting their production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, which was last presented at Warwick Arts Centre back in 2007. ETO open their doors to younger audiences with The Feathered Ogre for ages 4-7 followed by A Trip to the Barber’s as a celebration of European Opera Day.

In June we present a gala concert celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee entitled Classic Women. This is a unique opportunity to see five extraordinary women perform with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sian Edwards. Soloists include Alison Balsom on trumpet, Nicola Benedetti on violin, Natalie Clein on cello and Lesley Garrett singing soprano. This promises to be a right royal celebration of a concert – go on, spoil yourself and crack open the musical champagne!

Our Family programme offers things to do for all ages. Catherine Wheels Theatre Company bring us White, winner of the TMA Theatre Award 2011 for Best Theatre for Children and Young People. Following One Little Word this March, M6 Theatre Company return with Sunflowers & Sheds which promises to be a captivating show underscored with original music. As ever, our family films feature new releases and established classics, offering hours of entertainment for the little ones in your life. And don’t forget – this Christmas We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.

Our Spoken Word programme features literary gurus Mario Vargas Llosa, Alan Hollinghurstand Joe Dunthorne as well as a comedic exploration of power and leadership from Tim Clare. Our Comedy season is as strong as ever featuring some of the best-known names on the UK comedy circuit. Just announced is a double bill of Edinburgh previews – magician Pete Firman and international raconteur Marcel Lucont join us in May.

Finally, following the success of The Indiscipline of Painting we open the Mead Gallery doors from Tue 1 May with Maestros bringing together two acclaimed moving image installations by the Turner-prize winning artist Douglas Gordon. Feature Film and Zidane celebrate the work of two maestros, the former honing in on conductor James Conlon as he leads the Paris Opera Orchestra, and the latter follows footballer Zinedine Zidane through the course of an entire match.

We look forward to seeing you at Warwick Arts Centre this Summer.