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Classical Music

Best Concerts and Opera in November

By Claudia Pritchard on 22/10/2023

Healing music for a troubled world, a new symphony by Joan Armatrading and an opera film night

7 Deaths of Maria Callas, English National Opera

As a young woman, artist Marina Abramović was so captivated by the soprano Maria Callas that, now herself a performer of worldwide renown, she has devised a show about the singer. 7 Deaths of Maria Callas features seven of the most powerful scenes in opera, re-created by today's great sopranos, including Sophie Bevan, Sarah Tynan, Nadine Benjamin and Aigul Akhmetshina (pictured).

WHEN

03 Nov 2023 – 11 Nov 2023, Six performances; start times vary. Running time 1hr 30min, with no interval

WHERE

English National Opera
London Coliseum, St Martin's Lane, London, WC2N 4ES

Wimbledon Music Festival

Year after year this remarkable festival attracts top artists to smaller venues where appreciate audiences can interact closely with the performances. Highlights this year include Mozart's opera Così Fan Tutte and Handel's dramatic oratorio Israel in Egypt, plus appearances by the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Juilliard Quartet, violinist Rachel Podger and her Brecon Baroque, and an evening of songs about love, featuring baritone Roderick Williams (pictured) and pianist Iain Burnside.

WHEN

Sat 4 Nov to Sun 26 Nov 2023: 22 events, start and running times vary

WHERE

Wimbledon churches

Puccini's opera Suor Angelica was filmed on location

Grange Park Opera, Suor Angelica red carpet screening

Look out your most glim-glam cocktail dress for an early evening red-carpet screening of Grange Park Opera's latest film at the Everyman Chelsea, in the King's Road. The company took to filming short operas on location during lockdown. This latest one-acter comes from Puccini's Il Trittico, and is set in a convent where the cheerful nuns are joined by a novice with a secret.

WHEN

Tues 7 Nov 2023. Two screenings, at 5:30PM and 6:45PM

WHERE

Everyman Cinema, 279 King's Road, London SW3 5EW

Fiona Kizzie Lee co-directs Ensemble Pampinea

London International Early Music Festival, 50th anniversary

Since its launch 50 years ago, the London International Festival of Early Music has grown to be one of the largest events of its kind in the world. Instrument makers, performers and composers gather to share their expertise and play the music that was the bedrock of the later repertoire. Events include exhibitions and five concerts in the church of St Michael and All Angels, Blackheath

WHEN

08 Nov 2023 – 11 Nov 2023, Exhibitions and concerts, times vary

WHERE

Blackheath Halls, Blackheath
23 Lee Road, Blackheath, London, SE3 9RQ

Jephtha, Royal Opera House

It's a nightmare scenario. A father enters into a pact: victory in a holy war in exchange for the life of the first person he sees upon deliverance. But that person is his own daughter. Does he keep his word of honour at the expense of his child? Handel's dramatic oratorio is given its first Covent Garden staging by the Royal Opera's director of opera, Oliver Mears. An all-star cast includes tenor Allan Clayton in the title role and Jennifer France, plus mezzo-soprano Alice Coote, bass Brindley Sherratt and exciting new counter-tenor Cameron Shahbazi (right in photo, in ROH Picture a day like this).

WHEN

Wed 8 Nov to Fri 24 Nov 2023. Six performances, start times vary. Running time 3hr including one interval

WHERE

Royal Opera House
Bow Street, Covent Garden, London WC2E 9DD

West-Eastern Divan Ensemble & Michael Barenboim

This promises to be the most powerful musical event of the month – or the year. An ensemble of players drawn from the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, co-founded by conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim, bring together Jewish and Arab musicians. Their programme includes chamber music by Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Elliot Carter. Expect an evening charged with meaning and healing, under director and violinist Michael Barenboim.

WHEN

Sat 11 Nov 2023, 7:30PM, running time c 2hr

WHERE

Queen Elizabeth Hall, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX

Fauré Requiem, Insula Orchestra

The setting of the requiem mass by French composer Gabriel Fauré is one of the most loved pieces of choral music, with its otherworldly 'Pie Jesu' and consoling 'In Paradisum'. This performance by Paris-based Insula Orchestra under Laurence Equilbey is enhanced Mat Collishaw's film Sky Burial, rooted in the natural world and daily life. Also performed the rarely heard – and once lost – Saint François d'Assise by operatic composer Charles Gounod. A most unusual, multi-sensory programme.

WHEN

Mon 20 Nov 2023, 7:30PM

WHERE

Barbican Hall, Silk Street, Barbican, London EC2Y 8DS

Lang Lang gives two concerts in November. Photo: Haiqiang Lv

Lang Lang and the RPO, Royal Albert Hall

The superstar pianist from Channel 4’s hit show The Piano, accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, performs two highly attractive works by the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns, in two concerts at the Royal Albert Hall. All the family will enjoy the Carnival of the Animals, including among the menagerie the amateur pianist, practising, practising, practising.... Then Lang Lang shows his virtuosity in Saint-Saëns' Piano Concerto No 2.

WHEN

21 Nov 2023 – 23 Nov 2023, Two performances, on 21 and 23 November

WHERE

Royal Albert Hall
Kensington Gore, London, SW7 2AP

Armatrading and Tchaikovsky, Chineke! Orchestra

If 'Love and Affection' is one of your favourite songs, you will want to hear the world premiere of songwriter Joan Armatrading's Symphony No 1, composed last year. Born in St Kitts, raised in Birmingham, and self-taught on a guitar that was bartered for two old prams, the 70-year-old composer might even be present... After the interval, Tchaikovsky's profound Symphony No 5. Unmissable.

WHEN

Fri 24 Nov 2023, 7:30PM

WHERE

Queen Elizabeth Hall, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX

Backstage drama in Pagliacci at the Royal Opera House. Photo: Tristram Kenton

Cavalleria Rusticana & Pagliacci, Royal Opera House

Damiano Michieletto's wonderfully atmospheric and dramatic double bill of operas by Mascagni and Leoncavallo. In both stories, jealous love ends in tragedy, but the music on the way is ravishing. Listen out for the powerful Easter Hymn in 'Cav'. Singers include, at most performances, Roberto Alagna and Aleksandra Kurzak.

WHEN

Thurs 30 Nov to Fri 15 Dec 2023. Seven performances, start times vary. Running time 3hr 15min including one interval

WHERE

Royal Opera House
Bow Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 9DD

Best Concerts and Opera in November

Healing music for a troubled world, a new symphony by Joan Armatrading and an opera film night

7 Deaths of Maria Callas, English National Opera

Wimbledon Music Festival

Grange Park Opera, Suor Angelica red carpet screening

London International Early Music Festival, 50th anniversary

Jephtha, Royal Opera House

West-Eastern Divan Ensemble & Michael Barenboim

Fauré Requiem, Insula Orchestra

Lang Lang and the RPO, Royal Albert Hall

Armatrading and Tchaikovsky, Chineke! Orchestra

Cavalleria Rusticana & Pagliacci, Royal Opera House

Royal Opera House

English National Opera

Philharmonia Orchestra

Brahms

Handel

Dvorak

Opera Holland Park 2024

Lang Lang and the RPO, Royal Albert Hall

Opera at Covent Garden 2023/24: Royal Opera season in full

Best opera at Covent Garden in Autumn 2023

Glyndebourne Festival Opera 2024

Best Concerts and Opera in October