As usual, there's so much going on in London next month that the sooner someone invents a Sky+ for live events the better.
Royal Opera House
Tamerlano opens on 5 March, minus Plácido Domingo of course. And there's The Cunning Little Vixen from 19 March, with Charles Mackerras in the pit the main attraction.
English National Opera
For those who like that sort of thing, Philip Glass's Satyagraha continues its interminable run. David Alden's new Katya Kabanova, if it's anything like his Jenùfa, looks a far more exciting prospect. The fine cast includes Patricia Racette, Susan Bickley and Stuart Skelton.
English Touring Opera decamp to Sadler's Wells while their regular London stopover the Hackney Empire is closed. Don Pasquale is on 8 March, The Marriage of Figaro on 9 March and A Midsummer Night’s Dream on 10 March - all in English.
Barbican
The Vienna Philharmonic visit on 2 and 3 March. High ticket prices, Lorin Maazel and Bruckner 3 make this prospect less appealing than it might first sound. Guildhall students present Massenet's Cherubin from 4-10 March (returns only). 13 March is devoted to the music of Wolfgang Rihm, with a series of concerts, talks and films, and probably an appearance from the composer himself. Christine Schäfer, Matthias Goerne and Hilary Hahn recreate their recent CD of Bach cantatas and arias on 23 March. David Robertson and the BBCSO present the UK premiere of Peter Eötvös's Angels in America on 26 March.
Southbank Centre
Maurizio Pollini celebrates Chopin's birthday on 1 March with a preludes'n'etudes recital. On 4 March Andris Nelsons conducts the Philharmonia in Shostakovich's 9th symphony, and on 6 March his mentor and fellow Latvian Mariss Jansons brings the brilliant Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra to London for Shostakovich 10.
An evening devoted to Azerbaijani classical music on 7 March is a slow seller despite a fine orchestra (RPO), conductor (Dmitri Sitkovetsky) and soloists (Joan Rodgers and Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts), but as a once-only opportunity, I think it's worth a try. Coincidentally or perhaps not, a Parajanov season at the BFI includes his magical Ashik Kerib, the story of an Azeri minstrel.
A semi-staged Mikado on 14 March is nearly sold out. There are Gerald Barry and Richard Ayres premieres from the London Sinfonietta on 17 March, and on 30 March Muti conducts the Philharmonia in Beethoven's Eroica and Violin Concerto (with Joshua Bell). As ever, there are plenty of free events too.
Wigmore Hall
Matthias Goerne's complete Schubert series at Wigmore Hall continues on 2 March and on 11 March. On 8 March Alex Ross delivers the 2010 Royal Philharmonic Society lecture, entitled Inventing and Reinventing the Classical Concert (or inventing and reinventing (le) classical concert). Should be like a republican get-together at Buckingham Palace. Harrison Birtwistle's 75th birthday is celebrated on 24 March, and Roger Vignoles's Strauss lieder series continues on 30 March with Marlis Petersen and Andrew Kennedy .
