Nathaniel Mander [Nathaniel Mander]

“I WAS born in the 18th century,” says harpsichordist Nathaniel Mander – exaggerating slightly (it was actually the 1980s) but on terms you’ll understand from his appearance, seated at the fabulously decorated keyboard he’ll be wheeling into Burgh House, Hampstead, for a solo recital on March 31.

The wheeling will be literal. He’s living right now just along the street from Burgh House and intends to push his instrument – a glorious red/gold copy of a harpsichord made in Versailles in 1750 – on a trolly, door to door. Free entertainment for the neighbours.

But when not engaged in furniture removal, Mander ranks among the star performers of his kind. He won the 2011 Broadwood Competition held at Hampstead’s Fenton House and now enjoys an international career – playing a lot in Paris and specialising in French composers like Couperin, who features in the Burgh House recital.

“I’ve called the programme Spring Music,” he says, “and want to make it an immersive experience, filling the room with flowers like a Rococo fantasy: escapism if you like from the grimness of the modern world.” Full details at burghhouse.org.uk.

And should you miss the show, his red/gold Liberace-look keyboard will be on the move again in April for a concert at St Peter’s Belsize Park. I don’t think he’ll be pushing it that far; but if he does, it’s downhill. stpeterbelsizepark.org.uk

• Talking of period performance on modern repros, the baroque string-player Jacob Garside performs Bach’s unaccompanied cello suites at Hampstead Parish Church on April 3, using a prized copy of an 18th-century original with gut strings. Expect time-travelling transcendence, intimacy and intensity. hampsteadparishchurch.org.uk

• We’re approaching Easter, which is when St John’s Smith Square comes into its own with an annual festival of Easter music. As you’d expect, it’s largely choral. But there’s a lunchtime recital on April 2 at which violinist Madeleine Mitchell plays Kiss on Wood, the rapt meditation on the wood of the Cross written for in the 1990s by James MacMillan. A must-hear, alongside works by Vaughan Williams, Rachmaninov and Brahms. sjss.org.uk
There’s more MacMillan at Smith Square on April 6 when the elite vocal consort Tenebrae include him in a programme of spiritually focused music.

And still more at St Martin-in-the-Fields on April 4 when the no less elite Sixteen feature him with Poulenc and Victoria in a programme based around the suffering of Mary at the crucifixion. stmartin-in-the-fields.org

• Founded in 1973, Islington Choral Society celebrates its golden jubilee with the fire, storms curses (and compensating beauty) of Mendelssohn’s Elijah on April 2 at Cadogan Hall. Michael Waldron conducts. cadoganhall.com

• World Piano Day falls on March 31, and to mark it there’s an afternoon of drop-in music at the National Gallery, with free recitals themed around the gallery’s new “After Impressionism” exhibition. From what I’m told, it will be a bit like the impromptu performances you get on railway stations – but with better pianists, playing properly, against a more inspiring backdrop. Details: nationalgallery.org.uk