Oxfordshire County Council's Music Service plans to mark the opening of its new £1.3m headquarters in the new year with a month-long festival.

The new headquarters, based at Bayards Hill Primary School, in Barton, Oxford, features a large concert hall to accommodate 500 performers and audience members, two rehearsal rooms large enough for 50 performers, several practice rooms and offices.

The service, which received an honourable mention in the National Music Council LEA Music Awards for its work, will launch the centre with a festival in March.

The head of the music service, Richard Hallam MBE, has been awarded an Honorary Membership of Trinity College of Music in London for his work in music education and made an Honorary Fellow of Oxford Brookes University.

He said: "I'm delighted that the range and breadth of our activities keep getting national recognition in this way.

"We have a marvellous staff, who richly deserve these sorts of accolades for their work.

"Many thousands of young people and adults benefit through regular tuition or special events provided by the music service."

The chairman of Oxfordshire County Council, Shereen Karmali, will officially open the building.

The festival, starting on March 5, will feature a rock and pop concert, a folk day for schools, and a performance by the county's Big Band.

There will also be a competition for soloists.

Multicultural workshops for pupils, a special schools event, a recorder workshop, a regional Festival of Music for Youth and a carers, babies and toddlers even are also in the pipeline.

City schools in the former Education Action Zone, now called the Excellence Cluster, will also give a performance.

The final concert and reception will take place on April 5.

Liz Stock, assistant head of the service, added: "The music service has had a lot to celebrate during 2004 and we're looking to build on our successes with the official opening of our new building.

"The idea of the festival is to get as many people into the building so they know where it is and also so that they can sample the different kinds of music."