Catch Yuja Wang in concert at the Barbican on September 15 and 19 [Julia Wesely]

Like or loathe the thing, it’s here again: the chirpy, cheesy, flag-infested Last Night of the Proms, which, if you’re into concerts, closes off a summer of relentless treks down to the Albert Hall and clears the way for the new autumn season of music in other venues. To my ears, this year’s Proms have been uncommonly good, with almost everything I’ve been to qualifying as a five-star experience. So hats off to the BBC for that, despite the sometimes feeble radio and TV presentation.

And although much of what’s on the Last Night bill on September 14 is the usual, harmless if annoying Rule Britannia stuff, you do get the soprano Angel Blue singing Puccini, and pianist Sir Stephen Hough playing a movement from Saint-Saëns’ 5th Piano Concerto: known as the “Egyptian” and famous for its keyboard impersonation of frogs croaking on the banks of the Nile, to which Hough will doubtless give his all.
Details: bbc.co.uk/proms. And to be there without actually being there, the whole thing is broadcast live on BBC2 – though waving a flag in the seclusion of your own sitting room is beyond sad, so not recommended.

• For those who can’t get enough Saint-Saëns, there’s more the following day when the LSO play his 3rd Symphony at the Barbican on September 15 under their new chief conductor Antonio Pappano. But the chief sell for this concert is more likely the 1st Rachmaninov piano concerto also on the programme – because the pianist here is the invariably sensational Yuja Wang. She’s been hanging around London during the past week or so performing short, sharp one-hour concerts at the Lightroom, King’s Cross, to the visual accompaniment of digital projected images by David Hockney. A phenomenon of pulverising virtuosity, it was thrilling. So be comparably dazzled by her with the LSO – and know that she’s with them again on September 19, same venue, playing Chopin. She must like it here. barbican.org.uk

• Not quite so head-turning as Wang (or so good at pedalling in stilettos) but still a superlatively fine pianist, Boris Giltburg is at Wigmore Hall, September 15, for the launch of his new series of the Beethoven piano sonatas. This first instalment features the mighty “Hammerklavier” alongside Nos 1 & 18. The beginning of a long haul enterprise. wigmore-hall.org.uk

• Hildegard of Bingen was a 12th-century nun of polymath abilities and achievements, not least as a composer. And as much of her work was connected with visions, the three female singers who called themselves Voice Trio have devised an event where they incorporate her music into a shifting, psychedelic 60s-style light show that plays LSO St Luke’s, September 17. I saw a version of it some while ago in Oxford, and it gave me a head-ache. But the music was engaging. Take dark glasses. Or some paracetamol. barbican.org.uk

• When the baritone Sir Thomas Allen announced his retirement earlier in the summer, it was the end of an era in British singing – because he was one of the greats, a consummate artist on the opera stage and in recital. Happily, he’s also a fine teacher. And you can watch him pass on his skills to young performers in a public masterclass at the Royal College of Music, September 18. He does it well, with charm and kindness. rcm.ac.uk