QUEEN guitarist Brian May and singer Kerry Ellis are teaming up for a sixth tour together, this time a Candlelit Christmas Concert series that will visit Leeds Grand Theatre on December 12 at 7.30pm.

The pair first toured together with their Anthems shows in 2011, in the wake of the release of Ellis's first album, produced by May, who has spent this summer playing festivals throughout Europe with Queen and frontman Adam Lambert, with more shows to come in Asia.

Ellis has made her mark in musical theatre, playing Elphaba in Wicked in London and on Broadway, and by December she will have delivered her starring role in the first run of the Off-Broadway hit Murder Ballad in London’s Arts Theatre. Ellis had first encountered May when she created the role of Meat in the Queen rock musical We Will Rock You.

“Our show is definitely an experience; we like to move people, give them new experiences and take them on our personal journey, and we have a lot of fun," says Ellis of her concerts with May. "Brian always comes up with great stories to explain our choice of songs, and among them a lot of hidden gems that people have never heard before. We like to think it’s a very unique and special evening.”

May adds: “Our show is largely acoustic and usually performed by candlelight. It’s very loose and interactive. In contrast to the bombast of a Queen show, our relationship with the audience is very informal: truly live and spontaneous.

"This is now my favourite way of performing: it’s a lot of fun and anything can happen. It takes some courage, but we believe our audience loves the fact that we take the risk to run the show completely ‘wild’. No clicks, no loops, no clutter. It’s fundamentally just a voice and a guitar.”

The Christmas concert tour will feature songs from their forthcoming second album, Anthems II, on which May and Ellis have been working for the past year.

May will swap his trademark Red Special guitar for a variety of acoustic instruments for much of the evening, when the new songs will be complemented by the duo's favourite songs, a few Queen tunes revisited, and material dedicated to awareness of wild animals, in tune with the passion that May and Ellis share for giving animals a voice.

“It's always a joy to be able to perform live with the ‘Doc' and this time will be as magical as ever," says Ellis. "We seem to always be developing and bringing new ideas to the table. Alongside performing and recording, we're still learning and for me that's the exciting part. I feel very fortunate to be doing another tour together and sharing yet another show with our audiences.”

May concludes: "Although life has taken us both into so many new areas recently, live music is still what makes us tick – the greatest joy – and Ms Ellis is the perfect fellow band member! I’m grateful for the opportunity we have to bring this show to an even wider audience. I’m already working on hardening up the finger ends.”

Tickets for Brian May and Kerry Ellis: Candlelit Christmas Concert are on sale at leedsgrandtheatre.com or on 0844 848 2700