MILAN

The season would not be complete without a La Scala rendering of Rossini’s much-loved The Barber of Seville. Revel again in Jean-Pierre Ponnelle’s renowned production of the pacy opera, throughout July. www.teatroallascala.org

EUROPE

Rod Stewart croons out some more classics as his Soulbook tour, his first arena and stadium tour in seven years, hits Germany, England, Scotland, Ireland and Malta in July and August. www.rodstewart.com  

NEW YORK

Featuring nearly 50 works, Andy Warhol: The Last Decade examines the late period of the artist, which was one of his most productive. The Brooklyn Museum exhibition, which runs until 12 September, also includes Warhol’s extensive variations on Da Vinci’s The Last Supper. www.brooklynmuseum.com

WORLDWIDE

With the first two instalments grossing more than $1bn worldwide, the latest release in The Twilight Saga – Eclipse – is almost guaranteed to be a box office success if not a critical one. From 30 June.

MUNICH

Get in the party mood early this year with a visit to Oktoberfest 1810– 2010 at Munich Stadtmuseum. From 9 July to 31 October, see items celebrating 200 years of the fair. Originally created to commemorate a royal marriage, Oktoberfest is now the largest festival in the world. www.em.stadtmuseumonline.de

AMSTERDAM

Started in 1975 to celebrate the city’s 700th birthday, Sail Amsterdam has become one of the largest events in the Netherlands, welcoming tall ships, other maritime vessels, and visitors from around the world. Held every five years, this year’s event runs from 19–23 August. www.sail2010.nl

ROTTERDAM

The “biggest jazz festival in the world”, the North Sea Jazz Festival (9–11 July) boasts an even more impressive line-up than usual, with almost 50 big names representing everything from traditional New Orleans jazz, swing, bop and free jazz, to fusion, electronic and avant-garde jazz. There’s also blues, soul, funk, gospel, hip-hop, R&B and Latin for the jazz-jaded. Al Green, Stevie Wonder, Elvis Costello (right), Diana Krall, Norah Jones, Herbie Hancock, Earth, Wind & Fire and Sonny Rollins are among the acts; Quincy Jones will receive a lifetime achievement award. www.northseajazz.com

EDINBURGH

For three weeks in August, the streets of Edinburgh will no longer be the city’s own, as performers, comedians, dancers and musicians along with plague-like proportions of tourists and media descend on Scotland’s capital for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Once simply a quirky, off the-beaten-track alternative to the more highbrow Edinburgh International Festival, the Fringe has now become the world’s largest arts festival. Famed for launching the careers of numerous comedians and playwrights, the Fringe will again throng with bands of young hopefuls waiting to be ‘discovered’. The festival runs from 6–30 August at locations throughout the city. www.edfringe.com

PARIS

From 16 July to 27 September, the Louvre is offering a journey through the heart of Arabia, from prehistoric times to the dawn of the modern world. Featuring 300 works, most of which have never before left Saudi Arabia, Roads of Arabia reveals the archaeology and history of the country, offering a panorama of the diff erent cultures that succeeded each other within the kingdom. Charting Saudi Arabia’s history as both an important ancient trading post and the cradle of Islam, the exhibition features silver tableware, precious jewellery from the first millennium BC through to funerary stelae that illustrate the evolution of writing and ornamentation between the 10th and 16th centuries and an insight into Meccan society of the time. www.em.louvre.fr