Saraband play the Hollybush pub

GIVEN how few public monuments there are to composers in this country, I’ve always marvelled that outside South Kensington station is a statue of the Hungarian Bela Bartok: a great man, but someone who had no great connection with London beyond the fact that he visited a few times. Clearly there’s an active Bartok lobby here. And it’s in business on Oct 17 when musicians including tenor Benjamin Hulett gather at the Inner Temple for a concert to commemorate the centenary of Bartok’s first visit. Expect music by Bartok himself, by his friend Peter Warlock, and by Brahms. Go see why that trip to London was so important. templemusic.org

• Also much in business is the Vaughan Williams 150th anniversary, which fell only the other day and is generating plenty of concerts. On Oct 15 at Wigmore Hall the Nash Ensemble have a VW evening, with works like the Five Mystical Songs and On Wenlock Edge performed by Roderick Williams, Lucy Crowe and others: wigmore-hall.org.uk. Then on Oct 19 at Cadogan Hall the enterprising choir and orchestra of London Choral Sinfonia have a programme featuring VW’s little-known Concerto Academico with Jack Liebeck as the violin soloist. It plays alongside an even lesser-known cantata by Lennox Berkeley, his Variations on a Hymn by Orlando Gibbons. A must-hear for collectors of English rarities. cadoganhall.com

• Not to be confused with LCS, the quite separate City of London Sinfonia have a stand-out event at Southwark Cathedral on Oct 20 – except lie-down event might be a better description, because it’s informal and there will be cushions scattered through the nave for you to lounge around (although with chairs too, if you’re not the lounging sort). It will happen under a 7-metre floating sculpture of the earth that’s touring British cathedrals right now. And the music will follow the course of 24hrs in earth’s life, from day to night: starting with Haydn’s Le Matin, running into Debussy’s L’apres midi d’un faune, and ending with Britten’s Nocturne. Don’t be put off: the 24hrs is condensed into a concert duration 6.30pm-8pm. And at 9pm, if you’re still awake and want more, there’s Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time. After which there can be no more. cityoflondonsinfonia.co.uk

• There’s no substitute for chamber music in the kind of intimate space for which it was written; and with that in mind, the baroque ensemble Saraband have a concert series in an upstairs room at the Hollybush pub, Hampstead, where they’re playing 18th-century tavern music. Their programme on Oct 19 explores the lives of 18th-century ladies, of both high and low repute. And you can book a period-style supper to complete the experience. saraband.co.uk

• Finally, the Royal Opera’s rather austere Richard Jones production of La Boheme is back, this time with the dazzling Juan Diego Florez (better known for earlier, athletically bel canto repertoire) as Rodolfo. With the sultry Danielle de Niese as Musetta, it’s interesting casting – though the cast changes in the course of the Oct 14-Nov 17 run. roh.org.uk