Fire in My Mouth [Harry Haysom]

WITH the Proms done for another year, there won’t be too many excuses for classical fans to throng the Royal Albert Hall in the coming months. But before you forget the way to South Kensington, there’s a significant event there, Sept 23, when the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra celebrates its 80th anniversary.

The RPO is in some ways the poor relation among London orchestras, with less money than most of the others. But it’s a fine band with a noble history, founded in 1946 by Thomas Beecham and doing great things under its current music director, Vasily Petrenko. For this birthday celebration it plays Beethoven and Strauss. A milestone. rpo.co.uk

• As the new post-Proms season gets under way, there’s an odd tendency to be programming Monteverdi’s Vespers – possibly because they come with curtain-raising dazzle. Two stand-out ensembles go head to head with the Vespers this week – I Fagiolini at Kings Place, Sept 18 (kingsplace.co.uk) and Vox Luminis, Sept 20 at Wigmore Hall (wigmore-hall.org.uk) – and it’s hard to make a choice between them. Both are characterful, idiosyncratic, likely to deliver something special. Monteverdi-lovers might just want to do the pair.

• Wigmore Hall is also celebrating the centenary of one of the last surviving giants of the post-war avant-garde, Gyorgy Kurtag – although giant is perhaps the wrong word for a man whose music often comes in miniature: intensely calculated whispers that depend on nuance, gesture, careful listening.

Over two days, Sept 18/19, artists like violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen and pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard pay tribute to a fascinating sound-world that reflects the grand adventure of experimental music in the 20th century. wigmore-hall.org.uk

• You’re unlikely to have heard of Gretry’s Zemira e Azor but it’s just the kind of interesting 18th-century rarity that Bampton Classical Opera like to dig out for reappraisal, as they do Sept 18 at Smith Square. A variant on the story of Beauty and Beast, it was apparently big in its day and is (I’m told) enchanting. sinfoniasmithsq.org.uk

• Off-the-wall but possibly a must-hear is an epic oratorio for a146-strong all-female choir called Fire in My Mouth that plays the Royal Festival Hall, Sept 22. By American composer Julia Wolfe, it commemorates a garment factory fire in early 20th-century New York in which 146 women lost their lives – hence the specific number of singers, who will be costumed and semi-staged. Expect passion, noise and anger. southbankcentre.co.uk

• If you’re looking for an easy music getaway from London, try Music@Malling – the autumn festival that delivers fabulous programmes in delightful Kentish venues 50 mins from Victoria. This year’s season runs Sept 18-27 and has pianist Peter Donohoe playing Debussy in West Malling church, the Sacconi Quartet playing Ravel in an ancient barn, the ensemble Chamber Domaine playing Tippett in a Benedictine monastery… and the London Sinfonietta remembering composer Toru Takemitsu. Mostly within walking distance of West Malling station, it’s a perfect day-trip. musicatmalling.com

• Another day trip worth the journey is to Oxford for the Oxford Philharmonic’s first venture into opera: a production of Puccini’s Tosca at the New Theatre (close to the station for getting back), with no less a star than Bryn Terfel as the villainous Scarpia, conducted by Marios Papadopoulos. How the OPO manages to do these things is constantly surprising but impressive: proof of grand ambition. Sept 24 & 26. oxfordphil.com