Benjamin Appl [Lars Borges]

THE relentless self-congratulation that makes Radio 3 hard to stomach these days troubles, as I know, a lot of listeners. But the station sometimes does have things worth celebrating; and among them is its New Generation Artists scheme which is being heavily plugged right now because it’s hit a 25-year anniversary.

During that time the scheme has had extraordinary success in spotting and providing platforms for the best young talent in the business. And you see the outcome when you look at current concert listings and see quite how many of the now-established names were former NGAs.

Among them is the pin-up German baritone Benjamin Appl who appears at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Mar 2, in a words-and-music tribute to his teacher Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau: the absolute master of Lieder singing who set its standards in the second half of the 20th century and was part of the listening lives of so many as we grew up. This year marks his centenary. And Appl is well-qualified to lift the curtain on it. southbankcentre.co.uk

Another one-time NGA is the Slovenian pianist Alexander Gadjiev who comes to Wigmore Hall, Mar 3, with a programme of Debussy, Bartok, Schumann and the American composer John Corigliano. Gadjiev has charisma, charm and brilliance. If you can’t be there, the concert livestreams on the Wigmore website with free access. wigmore-hall.org.uk

• Somebody who hit the heights long before the NGA scheme was invented but remains very much in the game is Renée Fleming: doyenne of American sopranos, and a battling one these days since she resigned as artistic advisor to the Kennedy Centre, Washington after Donald Trump tried to take it over for his own contemptible purposes. She’s at the Festival Hall, Mar 5, singing Wagner and Strauss in concert with the LPO. Go cheer her. Southbankcentre.co.uk

• There’s scarcely a concert venue this year not programming Shostakovich, who has a big round anniversary pending: 50 years since death. So it’s no surprise that he turns up twice on Feb 28 – with chamber works played by the Carducci Quartet at Milton Place and his 10th Symphony from the BBC SO across the road at the Barbican. Both barbican.co.uk

And for yet another anniversary – you can’t move for them just now – the Colla Voce Singers celebrate their 20th at St Gabriel’s Pimlico, Mar 1, with a gala concert of Bernstein’s boisterously seductive Chichester Psalms alongside Bach, Finzi and a welcome outing for the Magnificat by Giles Swayne: a maverick figure whose music was high-profile 30 years ago but seems (unfairly) to fallen off the collective radar. Time for some serious reappraisal. collavocesingers.com

• Always at their best in French repertoire – Ravel, Debussy, Fauré – the Nash Ensemble have two concerts of it, afternoon and evening at Wigmore Hall, Mar 1, joined for vocal works by soprano Christine Rice. wigmore-hall.org.uk

• Finally, two more keyboard concerts. The Spanish-born but NW6-based pianist Maria Garzon plays the mesmeric marathon that is Bach’s Goldberg Variations at St James, West Hampstead, Mar 2. Tickets on the door. 7.30pm start. And Estonian Tahe-Lee Lilve plays Nordic works at the atmospheric Leighton House, Holland Park, Mar 4. Details: lisapeacock.co.uk