Jacob Garside, part of the Hampstead Collective

NEVER work with children and animals’ was a piece of theatre lore that evidently never registered with Leoš Janáček, whose opera The Cunning Little Vixen fills the stage with both. Admittedly, the children are the animals, in costume; but it still requires an awful lot of traffic management, as you’ll see when Hampstead Garden Opera bravely step forward with a new production, running Nov 3-13 at Jackson’s Lane Theatre, Highgate.
If you’ve never seen The Vixen, it plays out like David Attenborough with singing: a celebration of the cycle of life in the depths of nature, based around the story of a fox who (temporarily at least) confronts the human world and gets the better of it. The music is magical, the staging usually delightful. And this one forms part of the current Made in Prague festival organised by London’s Czech Centre. Booking: jacksonslane.org.uk

• The Hampstead Collective is a flexible, new concert-giving enterprise originally set up by the professional choristers at Hampstead Parish Church in the aftermath of lockdown. It combines the singing you’d expect with instrumental chamber music. Having flourished and expanded, it’s now colonising Belsize Park, with events at St Peter’s Church there. And the one upcoming on Nov 7 features tenor Aidan Coburn with cellist Jacob Garside in music of the Italian/English baroque: from Monteverdi to Purcell. An interesting project worth supporting. Info: thehampsteadcollective.com

• When Keats was eulogising truth, beauty and nightingales in the garden of the Hampstead house that now bears his name, he probably wasn’t imagining his deathless words to the accompaniment of Indian classical music. But they may just make a perfect fit – who knows? – and you can find out when the Saudha Bangla Music Festival comes to Keats House on Nov 5 with a cross-cultural programme that involves tabla, vocals and poetry. Details: saudha.org

• Never be afraid of Handel operas: yes, they’re long and complicated… but they’re also fun, an opportunity for vocal fireworks, and with all-round stunning scores that make the hours fly by like nothing. His extraordinary Alcina is a prime example: a fantastical tale of sorcery, crossed love and revenge on an enchanted island. And there’s a new production by Richard Jones at the Royal Opera House running Nov 8-26. With a cast led by the dazzling international star Lisette Oropesa in the title role, and the always wonderful Mary Bevan as her hapless sister Morgana, it’s not short on promise. roh.org.uk

• Last autumn St Martin-in-the-Fields hosted an impressive if somewhat niche series of concerts showcasing Polish choral music, under the collective title Joy and Devotion. This year, they’re back. And with some leading vocal ensembles on the bill, including Polyphony on Nov 8 (singing music written for the Polish Pope John Paul II), and the Gesualdo Six on Nov 10 (in works by Gorecki). stmartin-in-the-fields.org

• And if you want to support a worthwhile cause, the London Classical Choir and Orchestra perform Bach and Handel in aid of homeless charities at St Mary’s Primrose Hill, Nov 6. londonclassicalchoir.com