Roxanna Panufnik day at Wigmore Hall [Paul Marc Mitchell]

IF you’ve managed to see (and sit through) the 5¾ hours of Wagner’s Die Walküre currently at Covent Garden (running to May 17 if you haven’t), you’ll know the thrill of what big opera with a massive orchestra can deliver. And I recommend its magnificence for those who can afford a decent seat: rbo.org.uk

But opera doesn’t have to be like that – and wasn’t for Benjamin Britten in the 1960s when he wrote a sequence of small-scale pieces to be done not in theatres but churches. They all had spiritual themes. He called them Parables. And though they were compact, they had an austerely ritualised dignity – the most famous being Curlew River.

The most magical is Burning Fiery Furnace which tells the biblical tale of three young men condemned to incendiary deaths for their faith but protected by an angel from the flames. The ending, when they walk out of the furnace singing, is so powerful it usually leaves me fighting tears. And there’s every chance it will again on May 14 & 16 when students at the Royal Academy of Music stage the piece – not in a church, but in the RAM theatre. Unlike Covent Garden’s Wagner, it lasts an hour. And you’ll wish it was more. ram.ac.uk

• Meanwhile, the rival Royal College Music has a Percussion Festival running May 11 with hands-on opportunities to hit things – preferably timpani, marimbas, xylophones rather than busts of great composers in the college foyers. Think of it as therapy. And don’t miss the promised experience of an Indonesian gamelan ensemble which, if you’ve never heard one, is the sound equivalent of getting pleasantly stoned. Details: rcm.ac.uk

• Music often runs in families, and a good example is Roxana Panufnik: composer-daughter of composer-father Andrzej Panufnik. It can’t be undiluted joy to have your achievements constantly compared with those of your dad, but Roxana has emerged as a major figure in her own right. And on May 10 she gets spotlit treatment at Wigmore Hall, with a day devoted to her life and work. She’s worth it. wigmore-hall.org.uk

• There’s no escaping Ravel just now, as the world goes crazy for his 150th anniversary. Last week the Ravel pianist-of-the-moment Seong-Jin Cho gave a fabulous marathon account of all Ravel’s solo keyboard works at the Barbican. This week there’s more Ravel from pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet at Wigmore Hall, May 14. I doubt if it will be so polished or so beautiful as Seon-Jin’s: nothing could be. But Bavouzet has affinity with this repertoire, and is engaging. wigmore-hall.org.uk

• Two charismatic names in London this week are the cellist Abel Selaocoe, interestingly paired with a choir at Wigmore Hall, May 13; and the conductor Gustavo Dudamel stopping by the Barbican for an LSO date, May 14, featuring Richard Strauss and, er, still more Ravel. barbican.org.uk

• Also at the Barbican, May 11, is a concert performance of Giulio Cesare: Handel’s 18th-century swords & sandals opera about Cleopatra playing fast and loose with Julius Caesar. Cecil B de Mille it isn’t, but the score has some of Handel’s greatest stage hits. And this account, by the English Concert, has Louise Alder as the Egyptian queen – giving her all and not yet ready for the asp. barbican.org.uk