Agrippina opens English Touring Opera’s run at Hackney Empire

WHEN Haydn wrote his so-called Mass for Troubled Times he wasn’t thinking of Britain in 2022, however well the title fits, but of his own era when the stability of Europe was shattered by Napoleonic wars. And it accounts for the more familiar name by which his piece is also known, the Nelson Mass – not that it has anything to do with Nelson, but its first performance in 1798 took place on the day when Nelson scored a major victory against Bonaparte at the Battle of the Nile. And randomly, the name stuck.
It also happens to be one of Haydn’s greatest works, getting what should be a memorable performance on Friday September 30 from the Age of Enlightenment Choir and Orchestra at Kings Place. So take your troubles along and see if they feel lighter as a consequence. kingsplace.co.uk

If that doesn’t do the trick, there’s more Haydn choral music when the Academy of Ancient Music do his oratorio The Seasons at the Barbican, on Tuesday October 4: barbican.org.uk. And for anyone in need of further soothing, consider the curious quantity of Bach Cello Suites on offer that same day, October 4. You can hear all six of them done by a relay of cellists (some of them distinguished) at Temple Church, staggered throughout the day, from 9am through to 9pm: templemusic.org
But you can also hear Nos 1 & 5 in a lunchtime recital at Wigmore Hall, given by the young South American Gabriel Martins: wigmore-hall.org.uk, A collectable experience.

• Something else to collect is the English Music Festival’s day of chamber works on Saturday October 1 at the exquisite little 1901 Club, tucked away in Exton Street, Waterloo. There are four short concerts running 12-7pm, with refreshments in between. The repertoire is, needless to say, English: Britten, Parry, Elgar, Addinsell etc. Much of it is not so well-known. And a bonus is the Radio 3 newsreader Paul Guinery playing Noel Coward on the piano. englishmusicfestival.org.uk

• It isn’t often that English National Opera bag a big-league international stage director like Christof Loy: you’re more likely to find him working round the corner at Covent Garden where he’s delivered a whole sequence of hits. But he comes to ENO on Friday Sept 30 for a production of Puccini’s Tosca that’s new to London although it’s already played in Helsinki, to good reviews, and proved itself to be something of substance. A must-see, it runs to November 4. www.eno.org

• The other operatic news this week is the start of English Touring Opera’s autumn season at Hackney Empire – with a run of three Handel masterpieces: Ottone (opening Saturday Oct 1), Agrippina (from Friday Oct 7) and Tamerlano (from Saturday Oct 8). Tamerlano is brand new, the others are revivals. And though Handel opera plots are tortuously complicated, they come radiantly adorned with some of the most stunning vocal music ever written: brilliant, dazzling, heartfelt. Not to be dismissed! englishtouringopera.org.uk/