Levi Andreassen [www.leviandreassen.com/]

IF you ran a survey to establish which was London’s best-loved concert venue, Wigmore Hall would win hands down. It’s not the biggest, or the grandest. But it’s easily the best run, with a programme that outclasses anything you’ll find at the Southbank Centre. And right now it’s firing on all guns to celebrate its 125th anniversary.

It was on May 31, 1901 that what was initially called Bechstein Hall (the German name changed during the First World War) opened for business. Two of the most glamorous music megastars – violinist Ysaye and pianist Busoni – graced the platform. And audiences marvelled not just at the beauty of the auditorium, with its polished panelling and golden apse over the stage, but at the miracle of the acoustic. They still do. And through the coming days the great and good from the world’s current musical elite will pour into that space, because they love it too.

On May 23, the renowned Pavel Haas Quartet play Dvořák and Schubert. May 24 has two concerts with Alban Gerhart in all six of the Bach cello suites. May 25 is the anniversary gala. May 26 & 27 bring early-music guru Jordi Savall. May 26 has diva Asmik Grigorian. May 29 the most exciting young pianist on the planet, Yunchan Lim. Also May 29 the incomparable Lieder singer Christian Gerhaher. And scrolling forward to Jun 2, the world’s No1 Wagner singer Lise Davidsen. It’s so extraordinary that many of these concerts sold out months ago. But try to get returns. This is a blow-out. wigmore-hall.org.uk

• Meanwhile, the new summer season at Opera Holland Park opens May 26 with Puccini’s not so often heard Fanciulla del West: a creaky Wild West tear-jerker (think Annie Get Your Gun, sung in Italian) about a feisty female in the Gold Rush era proving more than a match for outlaws, drunken miners and the local sheriff. Endure the silliness and there are good tunes. Till June 12.

Also running at Holland Park, May 28-Jun 13, is the more elevated silliness of Cosi fan tutte: a piece that grates these days because it patronises women. But hey, it’s Mozart. It’s a deathless score. It’s funny (sometimes). And stage directors have become adept at negotiating the problems. operahollandpark.com

• The double-bass isn’t an obviously virtuosic solo instrument, but in the right hands you can be surprised. And a recently arrived star who seems to have those hands is bassist Levi Andreassen, who has a recital May 26 at an interesting venue: the Parliament Chamber of Inner Temple, which isn’t normally open to the public. Here it happens thanks to the newly invigorated Temple Music organisation. templemusic.org

• Veteran baritone Thomas Hampson may no longer have the vocal lustre that produced his international career, but he’s still an artist of distinction. And May 28 at Kings Place he performs selections from Schubert’s great (if bleak) song cycle Winterreise – not with the usual piano accompaniment but with an accordion. Also on the programme are Kurt Weill and Piazzolla where the squeeze-box will feel more at home. kingsplace.co.uk

• Finally, that fabulous choir Ex Cathedra sing Rachmaninov’s All-Night Vigil at St Martin-in-the-Fields, May 28. Sublime. And worry not: it usually lasts just over an hour. stmartin-in-the-fields.org