Joyce DiDonato [Salva Lopez]

PURCELL’S Dido and Aeneas is a short opera but a great one – largely thanks to the heart-stopping dignity of the heroine’s lament as she prepares to die, abandoned by her lover. It demands a voice of stature. And it gets one on Feb 2 when the ever-dazzling Joyce DiDonato sweeps into the Barbican for a concert performance with the Italian baroque band who are effectively her backing group these days, Il Pomo d’Oro. Maxim Emelyanychev conducts. And playing alongside the lesser-known Jephte by Carissimi, its cast also features Andrew Staples, Fatma Said and Hugh Cutting: all decidedly hot talents. barbican.org.uk

• Other opera this week includes an umpteenth revival of Covent Garden’s Tosca in its dependable Jonathan Kent production, running Feb 5-24 (and back again in July for those who plan in advance). roh.org.uk

• But more interesting is a cut-down version of Wagner’s Siegfried playing at the mysterious Freemason’s Hall, Holborn, courtesy of Regents Opera. It’s the latest instalment in a Ring Cycle that this fringe company has been developing over time, with surprising success. And while Ring Cycles are usually the stuff of big international houses firing all guns, it’s an example of what can be achieved on modest terms – done in a relatively small space, in the round, with an orchestra of just 23 instruments (as opposed to the usual 100). If nothing else, the singers won’t have to screech in the traditional Wagnerian way. And you’ll see the sweat. Running Feb 4, 7, 10. regentsopera.com

• For the ultimate in musical intimacy though, try a recital of Bach’s solo cello suites, in the crypt of St Martin-in-the-Fields, Feb 8. The one and only performer is cellist Vladimir Waltham. And for added atmosphere, it’s by candlelight. stmartin-in-the-fields.org

• No candles promised, but there’s a theme of darkness to light running through the vocal programme given by the Tallis Scholars at Cadogan Hall, Feb 8. The music is the Scholars’ speciality: renaissance masters Tallis, Byrd and Parsons. And they’ll sing it with the silken elegance that’s been their trademark since the group began – some 50 years ago. Peter Phillips, their founder-director, knows the business so well he’s just published a novel about the backstage lives of singers in a vocal consort. People tell me that it’s riotously truthful. Let’s hope no one sues. cadoganhall.com

• Other recommendations this week are the Nash Ensemble giving an all-Spanish programme at Wigmore Hall, Feb 8: Turina, Falla and Ravel (who, OK, was French but spent his life looking wistfully across the border and counts for these purposes as an honorary Spaniard). wigmore-hall.org.uk

• For those who prefer cooler climes, a Scottish season continues at Kings Place, Feb 3, with music by Sally Beamish and adoptive Scot Sir Peter Maxwell Davis. kingsplace.co.uk
Meanwhile, the excellent Hampstead Collective, based at Hampstead Parish Church, sing Britten’s madrigal-like settings of medieval texts, Sacred and Profane: a late work, not so often done, but charged with virtuosity and touches of grim humour (not least about the miseries of growing old: I cover my ears for that bit). Feb 5. thehampsteadcollective.com