Tenor Ian Bostridge is at All Hallows this Sunday [Kalpesh Lathigra]

THERE’S no shortage of star musicians living in the neighbourhoods served by this newspaper, but they don’t often perform on their own doorsteps as the tenor Ian Bostridge will this Sunday at All Hallows, Gospel Oak. He lives on the borders of the parish. And though he doesn’t lend his celebrated voice to the morning Mass settings (if only), he’s there on the evening of Oct 12 for a concert in which he sings one of the great orchestral song cycles of the 20th century: Benjamin Britten’s Les Illuminations.

If you don’t know the piece, it’s a setting of manic verse by the drug-addicted bad boy of French 19th century poetry Arthur Rimbaud – who, as it happens, wrote most of the words while living with his lover Verlaine down the road in Camden Town. And it’s a perfect fit for Bostridge’s voice, which is transparent, agile, masochistically expressive and ruled by a musical intelligence that refutes those old jokes about tenors being bluster and no brain.

As to why he’s doing this local concert when he could be topping bills in any of the world’s great concert halls, it’s a favour to one of his neighbours: the conductor Christopher Gayford, who lives in NW5 but has longstanding connections with Sheffield, where, for decades, he’s run the city’s youth orchestra.

The All Hallows concert is played by ex-members of that orchestra who have now grown into adult musicians, some of them prominent. And there’s also a Brahms symphony – No2 – to calm the nerves after all that feverish (and sometimes rather rude for consecrated premises) Rimbaud. Booking: cyso.org.uk

• Another remarkable voice in London this week is the Polish countertenor Jakub Jozef Orlinski, whose mere presence on the platform is electrifying, and who has a two-night mini-residency at Wigmore Hall, Oct 10 & 11, singing Bach and Handel. wigmore-hall.org.uk

And if music of that period is your pleasure, Linden Baroque have a concert, Oct 12, at St Stephen’s Rosslyn Hill NW3, that explores the 18th-century roots of symphonic writing: lindenbaroque.org

• Going back to Britten, there’s a semi-staging production of his comic opera Albert Herring at ENO, running for just two nights, Oct 13 & 16. Comic operas have a habit of not being hugely funny but believe me, Herring is a true exception. Done well, it’s a laugh-out-loud joy. Fingers crossed. eno.org
I wish I could say the same of ENO’s Cinderella, which runs alongside until Oct 14. A contemporary update on Rossini’s story, it’s mildly entertaining but lacks sparkle – and worse still, enough voices able to deliver the required coloratura embellishment. They mostly struggle. But there’s a standout performance from Simon Bailey who plays Cinders’ dodgy dad like something out of Gilbert & Sullivan. Deepa Johnny in the title role is charming. And after a bad start, the show does come together for a decent finish. eno.org

• There’s a lot of pianist Stephen Hough going around this week, largely courtesy of the annual piano festival at Kings Place, which has him running a “piano clinic” for young players in the afternoon of Oct 11, followed by appearances in the gala that follows the same day: kingsplace.co.uk – and if that isn’t enough Hough, he’s also at the Guildhall School, Oct 14, giving masterclasses: gsmd.ac.uk Expect wit and insight.