Best concerts and opera in September

By Claudia Pritchard on 24/8/2021

The musical year begins this month, and in spectacular style. Three new principal conductors, fresh productions of favourite operas and other neglected works revived

Action on the high seas in Amy Beach's opera Cabildo

Cabildo, Wilton's Music Hall

Composer Amy Beach's 'perfect American subject' for her only opera tells the story of a tour group visiting a New Orleans heritage site and an imagined encounter with a pirate. After its London premiere, a second chance to hear this short and powerful piece.

WHEN

07 Sep 2021 – 11 Sep 2021, Five 7:45PM performances with no interval

WHERE

Wilton's Music Hall
1 Graces Alley, London, E1 8JB

BBC Proms 2021 final concerts

It's not only the Last Night that stirs passions. Be moved by two contrasting works by JS Bach – his St Matthew Passion (9 Sept) with star soloists including Louise Alder, Iestyn Davies and Roderick Williams, and, the following night, his mesmerising Goldberg Variations played on the piano by the phenomenal young Russian-born Pavel Kolesnikov (pictured).

WHEN

Thurs 9 Sept at 7PM and Fri 10 Sept at 7:45PM

WHERE

Royal Albert Hall
Kensington Gore, London, SW7 2AP

New Music Britain, London Symphony Orchestra

Sir Simon Rattle (picured) launches his penultimate year directing the LSO and a season dedicated to British music. Purcell, Tippett and Vaughan Williams works are joined by more recent pieces from Julian Anderson, Judith Weir and Peter Maxwell Davies. And it's not every LSO concert that features Robert Jordan on bagpipes...

WHEN

Sun 12 Sept, 7PM-8:45PM, with one interval

WHERE

Barbican Centre
Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS

Rigoletto opens the Covent Garden 2021/22 season. Artwork: Dan Muzzi

Rigoletto, Royal Opera House

A powerful man, a trusting innocent and her protective parent. The three characters at the heart of Verdi's finest opera are timeless. To open Covent Garden's 2021/22 season, Oliver Mears directs a starry cast in the 19th-century masterpiece that features some of the composer's best-loved music.

WHEN

13 Sep 2021 – 29 Sep 2021, Seven performances, with one interval. Running time 2hr 40min, start times vary. Further performances in February and March

WHERE

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

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at 75

A year of celebratory concerts to mark the RPO's 75 years begins with another celebration – the arrival of new music director Vasily Petrenko. Sheku Kanneh-Mason (pictured) is the soloist in Elgar's Cello Concerto, and the all-British concert also includes Walton's mighty choral and orchestral work Belshazzar's Feast and music by Delius.

WHEN

Tues 21 Sept, 7:30PM

WHERE

Royal Albert Hall
Kensington Gore, London, SW7 2AP

London Philharmonic Orchestra, The Midsummer Marriage

Like the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Philharmonia, the London Philharmonic Orchestra welcomes a new principal conductor this year. London-based Edward Gardner (pictured) was a popular choice to follow the charismatic Vladimir Jurowski. His debut concert celebrates instrumental music and the voice alike – Michael Tippett's magical opera The Midsummer Marriage is sung in concert with soloists including tenors Robert Murray and Toby Spence, soprano Jennifer France and bass Ashley Riches.

WHEN

Sat 25 Sept, 7:30PM

WHERE

Royal Festival Hall, Belvedere Road SE1 8XX

Jenufa joins the Royal Opera House's roster of Janáček operas. Artwork: Alicja Brodowicz, Millennium Images UK

Jenufa, Royal Opera House

The music is translucent, but the emotions run deep and thickly in the Czech composer Leoš Janáček's powerful opera. This new production is a must-see in a rolling programme of works by Janáček at Covent Garden. In this rural-set tale, the neglect of a devoted young woman has terrible consequences.

WHEN

28 Sep 2021 – 12 Oct 2021, Five performances, start times vary. Running time three hours, including two intervals

WHERE

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

Venus and Adonis, Blackheath Halls Opera

Professional singers are joined by musicians drawn from the community for John Blow's opera – arguably the first English opera – in a sparky production from the company behind a hilarious Offenbach La Belle Hélène (pictured) in 2019. When Venus is struck by an arrow fired by her own son Cupid, she falls in love with the hunter Adonis, but fears for his life...

WHEN

Tues 28 Sept & Thurs 30 Oct, 6:30PM & 8:30PM; Sat 2 & Sun 3 Oct, 2:30PM & 5PM

WHERE

Blackheath Halls, 23 Lee Road, Blackheath SE3 9RQ

English Chamber Orchestra at 60, Cadogan Hall

The ECO is the most recorded chamber orchestra in the world, and the crystalline playing of a very attractive repertoire shows why. To open celebrations for its 60th year, the orchestra directed by violinist Stephanie Gonley (pictured) plays Bartok's Divertimento for String Orchestra, JS Bach's Violin Concerto in A minor, Tchaikovsky's Andante Cantabile from String Quartet No 1 and Dvořák's Serenade for Strings.

WHEN

Thurs 30 Sept, 7:30PM

WHERE

Cadogan Hall
5 Sloane Terrace, London , SW1X 9DQ

Philharmonia: Santu conducts Strauss, Royal Festival Hall

Philharmonia: Santtu conducts Strauss, Royal Festival Hall

Another great London orchestra, another new face .... Finnish conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali joins the Philharmonia as principal conductor in a busy season that opens with music inspired by the natural world. In this spectacular all-Richard Strauss opener, the cosmic Also Sprach Zarathustra is followed by a nature walk in music, the Alpine Symphony. After the silent months, stand by for a big, big sound...

WHEN

Thurs 30 Sept, 7:30PM

WHERE

Royal Festival Hall, Belvedere Road SE1 8XX