All Hallows Gospel Oak [allhallowsgospeloak.org]

THE great festival of Easter presides over the music schedules this week; and for those in need of spiritual solace on Good Friday, the possibilities range from a big, traditional Messiah at the Albert Hall (royalalberthall.com) to an intimate account of Messiaen’s soulful Quartet for the End of Time at Temple Church (templemusic.org).

There are also three commendable Bach Passions done with smaller forces, period-style: a St Matthew by the Academy of Ancient Music at the Barbican (barbican.org.uk), a St John at St George’s Hanover Square (London-handel-festival.com), and – my personal choice – another St John done by the incomparable Polyphony at Smith Square (sjss.org.uk)

All those are concerts, for which you’ll need tickets. But London isn’t short of churches with fine choirs that give you the music as a gift. And it’s interesting how many are marking this Easter with that French fin-de-siècle blockbuster, Vierne’s Messe Solenelle. You can hear it at the Saturday night Easter Vigil in both Westminster Cathedral and All Saints Margaret Street. They’re doing it on Easter Sunday morning at Westminster Abbey. And, not least, they’re doing it at 11am Easter Sunday at All Hallows Gospel Oak – where, although a mere parish church, the choir is professional, and Vierne’s masterpiece will be done as originally conceived with TWO organs. Earplugs advisable.

• The London Handel Festival is up and running right now, with most of its events (including the aforementioned St John Passion) at St George’s Hanover Square. But there’s another, fascinating venue for a lunchtime concert on April 2 given by finalists of the singing competition that the festival holds every year. You can hear them in the ancient Charterhouse, tucked away like a miniature Oxbridge college near Smithfield and a jewel not everybody knows about. A good excuse to visit. london-handel-festival.com

• There was a time when period-performance bands were content with Monteverdi and Bach. Then they claimed Beethoven. And now they get their hands on everything – as happens at the Royal Festival Hall, April 2, when the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment play Sibelius, Grieg and Rachmaninov. Expansionism with a vengeance, it’s presided over by Maxim Emelyanychev, the mercurial conductor who does such things north of the border with his own Scottish Chamber Orchestra. And is quite persuasive. southbankcentre.co.uk

• Not many of us get the chance to grace the pitch at Wembley Stadium for a rugby league final. But if you don’t have the thigh muscles, maybe you have the voice. Primrose Hill Choirs are recruiting for children and adults to sing at this year’s finals in June. Rehearsals start April in Chalk Farm. It can only be fun. primrosehillchoirs.com

• Also looking forward to the summer, that highlight of the cultural year in Hampstead Garden Suburb, the Proms at St Jude’s, has just announced details of its 2024 season. Running June 22-30, it will feature half the (extensive) Kanneh-Mason family; the star horn-player Felix Klieser whose technical agility, playing with his feet because he has no arms, is beyond astonishing; and pianist Martin James Bartlett playing Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Details at promsatstjudes.org.uk