John Wilson is at the Proms [Astrid Ackermann]

MUSIC history is littered with conductors who come along and create their own orchestra, seemingly from nowhere, like some Eastern potentate who claps his hands and says: “There shall be music.” Thomas Beecham was a notable example, doing it several times over. And a latterday Beecham is John Wilson, the genial Geordie whose own Sinfonia of London has created a unique place for itself in Britain’s orchestral hierarchy.

Like an army of generals, its players are uncommonly high-powered. And Wilson prepares their performances with meticulous care – sometimes to the point where things feel over-produced, but always impressive. They’ve become a fixture at the Proms, where they’re at the Albert Hall, August 4, in a programme of American classics by Copland, Gershwin and John Adams. And as this is music that Wilson does supremely well, expect to be dazzled.

• Dazzle of a different order comes the following night, August 5, when pianist Benjamin Grosvenor tackles one of the legendary monsters of the repertoire, Busoni’s Piano Concerto: a piece that last 70 minutes, includes a male chorus, is slightly mad, and avoided by most pianists in their right mind because it’s so difficult to play.

That this year is the centenary of Busoni’s death was thought a good excuse to get it off the shelf where it lives with other monumental scores by the composer generally regarded as white elephants or works of wonder, it’s an either/or. Edward Gardner, conducting this performance, thinks the concerto a piece everybody should hear once. This is your chance.

• The other big chance at the Proms this week is to see Purcell’s The Fairy Queen in a chic semi-staging that’s been touring the world with ecstatic reviews for its brilliance and daring. The performers are the always elegant French ensemble Les Arts Florissants, visiting on August 6 under conductor Paul Agnew. And they’ve apparently incorporated hip-hop routines into the 17th-century dance numbers. Audience participation not encouraged but conceivable.

• Stretching beyond their traditional comfort zones, the Proms this week also include a date with singer Sam Smith accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra, August 2. And the irrepressible, inescapable Kanneh-Mason family turn up in two daytime Proms, August 4 & 5, with a popular programme ranging from Bartok to Bob Marley.

All these concerts happen at the Albert Hall, www.royalalberthall.com – but you can also hear them in the comfort of your own kitchen on Radio 3. Details bbc.co.uk/proms

• Beyond the Proms, two operas open this week. One is Gilbert & Sullivan’s Yeomen of the Guard: a potentially stodgy piece of Victorian sentiment that nosedived when ENO last staged it at the Coliseum but may just flourish when Charles Court Opera (who have a good track record for G&S) do it at Holland Park, August 7-10. Operahollandpark.com

The other, opening the jokily-named Grimeborn (not to be confused with Glyndebourne) season at Dalston’s Arcola Theatre, is the minor masterpiece of 19th century gothic horror that is Der Vampyr: think Buffy the Vampire-Slayer with German Romantic music. Marschner’s opera doesn’t often venture from its coffin, but this gory, feminist staging got knee-trembling reviews when it first played in 2019. Now back for more, August 14-17. Arcolatheatre.com