Sheku Kanneh-Mason [Chris O’Donovan]

IN the week of the Autumn Budget, it’s presumably coincidence that the Age of Enlightenment Orchestra is performing a Bach cantata about paying tax. But maybe it’s prescience. And either way, it’s part of the Sunday morning series that the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment runs at Kings Place under the title Bach, the Universe and Everything.

A sort of alternative to church, the music&talk in these concerts is usually fascinating. And the one coming up, Nov 30, homes in on Bach’s setting of the biblical text where Jesus is asked whether it’s right to pay Roman taxes – to which his answer is the famous “Render unto Caesar…”
Enjoy it as you ponder what you’ll soon be rendering unto Rachel Reeves. kingsplace.co.uk

• I first encountered Sheku Kanneh-Mason when he was a schoolboy, giving a private concert in Hampstead; and I remember thinking he was the most phenomenal young cellist I’d ever heard – which was borne out when he then won the BBC Young Musician Competition and became crazily famous.

Happily, he’s shown staying power. And you can catch up with his development, Nov 29 at the Royal Festival Hall, when he plays Bloch’s mini-concerto on Jewish themes called Schelomo (it’s Hebrew for Solomon) with the LPO. southbankcentre.co.uk

That said, he faces stiff competition from other star cellists this week, because Steven Isserlis is at Wigmore Hall, also Nov 29: wigmore-hall.org.uk. And at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Nov 30, Alissa Weilerstein joins a dream-team chamber ensemble for Beethoven’s Archduke Trio: southbankcentre.co.uk

• It’s four years ago this week that the great Stephen Sondheim, died. And though the reputations of great artists have an unfortunate habit of nose-diving in the immediate aftermath of death, Sondheim is still up there, unassailable. So be prepared for the new production of his Into the Woods, running Dec 2-April 18 at the Bridge Theatre, to be a hot ticket.

Written in 1987, Woods throws together every fairy tale you can think of, and questions their propensity to happy endings – not least because Sondheim musicals don’t DO happy endings. Like life, they’re messy and equivocal. But as the mess builds, they give you some of the more brilliantly conceived numbers you’ll ever hear on a stage. And that includes the opera stage – which Sondheim always claimed he wasn’t writing for, although the complexity of his work can be so operatic it belongs there too. If you see nothing else over Christmas, here’s something to go for. bridgetheatre.co.uk

• Another Christmas run is English National Opera’s revival of HMS Pinafore, in the slapstick production by Cal McCrystal that I didn’t find very funny though others did. This time round it stars comedian Mel Giedroyc, billed as the “cabin boy”. But what they’ve found for her to do – since there’s no singing role of that name in the score – I can’t say. Dec 4-Feb 7. eno.org

• More seriously, Highgate International Chamber Music Festival runs Dec 3-7, with prestigious artists playing carefully curated programmes at St Anne’s Highgate West Hill. Every one of the seven scheduled events is commendable, but take special note of Dec 6 when celebrated baroque violinist Rachel Podger takes centre-stage. And for something not so serious, there a Buster Keaton movie with live instrumental accompaniment Dec 5. Details: chambermusicfestival.co.uk