Amjad Ali Khan is at the BBC Proms this weekend

I DON’T pretend to know my way around Indian classical music but I’ve always loved its hauntingly rhapsodic sound-world, wanting to know more. And an opportunity comes this weekend in the Proms when arguably the world’s most lauded sarod player, the veteran Amjad Ali Khan, plays a Sunday morning concert with members of his family.

Family is clearly important when it comes to this kind of music-making, and Khan is from a dynasty that stretches backwards and outwards with something like the profusion of JS Bach’s in 18th-century Saxony, the genius of musical creativity passed down the line father to son (daughters, alas, left out historically).

His North Indian ancestors played a significant role in developing the sarod into the instrument it is now – a sort of lute, not totally unlike a sitar but deeper and heavier in sound. There are about 20 strings, some plucked for melody, some left to resonate as drones. And in Khan’s playing tradition, they’re stopped with the finger-nails rather than finger-tips, to produce a cleaner edge. Go and be captivated: Albert Hall, Aug 21, 11.30am.

Also at the Proms this week is the very different sound-world of George Frideric Handel, with a performance on Aug 19 of his oratorio Solomon. This is the score with one of his most celebrated ear-worms, the instrumental sinfonia known as Arrival of the Queen of Sheba – played these days as the soundtrack to anything vaguely royal, as it was when James Bond met the Queen at the opening of the 2012 London Olympics. Sadly there’s no scheduled Bond appearance at this Prom, but it does feature musical royalty in the form of countertenor Iestyn Davies (singing Solomon) with an otherwise classy cast.

And if it’s class you’re after, consider next Wednesday’s Prom, Aug 24, when Dame Sarah Connolly, Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra bring Mahler’s mighty 2nd Symphony to the Albert Hall: a certain highlight of the season.

Ethel Smyth’s Mass in D doesn’t have that sort of line-up for its Proms outing on Aug 20, but given the sudden eruption of interest in her long-forgotten music (following the splash of her marine opera The Wreckers which Glyndebourne brought to the Albert Hall a few weeks ago) it could well prove another hit. And worth collecting if you’re into rare works by neglected composers.

Details for all proms at bbc.co.uk/proms. And never forget: every concert is broadcast live on Radio 3.

• The anniversary schedule for Vaughan Williams’ 150th birthday is getting busy – the day itself falls in October – and one of many events piling up is a staging of his opera Sir John in Love, brought to Holland Park’s tented auditorium by British Youth Opera. Based on the character of Shakespeare’s Falstaff, it’s a piece appropriate for younger singers in that VW wrote it, in 1929, for students at the Royal College of Music. Since then it hasn’t exactly had a glorious performing life, with very few productions. And in truth, it doesn’t rival Shakespeare for dramatic power: VW was a composer whose greatness didn’t encompass opera. But it will be worth seeing what BYO make of the piece. It’s tuneful (you get a lot of Greensleeves). And it runs August 24-27. Details: byo.org.uk