Hamish McLaren [Julian Guidera]

ASIDE from being the greatest composer this country has produced, Benjamin Britten was a figure of fierce moral conviction, an icon of gay visibility and a pacifist whose opposition to organised violence inspired towering works like the War Requiem as well as the opera Owen Wingrave – which gets a new student production at the Guildhall School, Feb 23-Mar 2.

Setting a Henry James story about the young scion of a military family who makes a stand against soldiering and pays the price, Wingrave was written in 1970 as a TV opera, subjecting its cast (which included Hampstead soprano Jennifer Vyvyan) to the intimate scrutiny of camera close-ups that never show singers at their best. Contorted faces, open mouths and spit are better from a distance.

Subsequently reworked for the stage, the piece has lingered in the shade of Britten’s other music-theatre works, dismissed as preachily polemical. But the score is haunting, the story powerful. And with a narrative of youthful idealism it’s a gift for students who, here at the Guildhall, will hopefully do it justice. gsmd.ac.uk

• Benjamin Britten’s godson happens to be composer/broadcaster (and another Hampstead resident) Michael Berkeley, who has a new song cycle premiering at Temple Church, Feb 24. Called Things Invisible to See, it’s based on poetry by John Donne and has been commissioned for countertenor Hamish McLaren – who sings it here alongside songs by Purcell and Shostakovich. Soprano Anna Fernandez and pianist Matthew Jorysz share the programme. templemusic.org

• Other notable singers in London this week include veteran bass-baritone Willard White appearing with the Brodsky Quartet at Kings Place, Feb 20 (kingsplace.co.uk); soprano Sophie Bevan with an all-English programme at Wigmore Hall, Feb 21 (wigmore-hall.org.uk); and contralto Jess Dandy in an East/West fusion of Indian/English songs, Feb 21, also Kings Place.

As Jess Dandy used to appear on Sunday mornings in the choir of Hampstead Parish Church, it’s an annoying coincidence that Feb 21 is the night when HPC has a concert to mark 80 years since the late Martindale Sidwell became its legendary, longstanding organist. Sidwell presided over the church’s music for more than four decades, building the reputation of its choir in the process. And though he died in 1998, his legacy marches on – not least through this concert which includes a performance of Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb. fom.org.uk

• The pianist Boris Giltburg has emerged of late as someone at the top of his game, touring Beethoven sonata cycles of elegance and credibility. On Feb 22 he’s at Wigmore Hall with a new project, playing Book 1 of the Well-Tempered Clavier: the collection of preludes and fugues written by Bach to demonstrate his preferred method of tuning keyboards so they could play in any key without sour-sounding notes. Never in the history of music has a technical exercise been infused with greater genius. And if you can’t be present at this performance, it also livestreams (free of charge!) on the Wigmore website. wigmore-hall.org.uk

• Finally David Waterman, ex-cellist with the Endellion Quartet, brings a group of friends to All Hallows Gospel Oak, Feb 23, for a concert in aid of the refugee charity Cotton Tree Trust. Sibelius & Shostakovich. ahgo.co.uk