Classical

What with more cranes than an eastern European nature reserve, and hard hats this season’s must-have fashion accessory, you’ve stumbled on a Bristol gripped by building fever. St George’s Bristol, however, the acoustically renowned, mid-sized concert hall off Park Street is mercifully makeover-free - facilitating a mouth-watering autumn line-up ranging from the Brodsky Quartet getting up close and personal to period bands like the English Concert and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. As for spring… don’t even ask! How does a Schubert series with Uchida, Brendel and Paul Lewis sound?

Down at the Colston Hall (your one-stop-shop for symphony orchestras and anything needing room to spread), it’s business as usual despite major construction works (see panel). Well, almost as usual. The International Classical Season is a tad shorter than usual but includes such goodies as the Vienna Tonkunstler (20 Feb), a Bruckner 7 from the Orchestre National de France under Masur (14 Nov) and an ongoing mini Rachmaninovfest courtesy of orchestra-in-residence the Bournemouth Symphony.

Bath , of course, would give its eye teeth for someone to dig the foundations for a purpose-built concert hall. The Georgian chandeliers and Doric columns might gild great chamber music, but if the Bath Philharmonia wants to play at full strength, it has to colonise Bath Abbey or the art deco cinema-turned-church, TheForum. The Michael Tippett Centre out at Newton Park is a mid-scale gem, while a set of wheels will get you to Bradford-on-Avon’s Wiltshire Music Centre, the municipal name concealing a venue that consistently punches above its weight (try the OAE’s ‘Dido’ or Britten Sinfonia’s Birtwistle for size). But Bath isn’t going to hang its head. It’s not called ‘ Festivals City’ for nothing. You’ve just missed the annual Guitar Festival. As the nights draw in tighter than a Victorian corset there’s the Rolls Royce Mozartfest (a star-studded extravaganza that opens with the Takacs Quartet and closes with the Philharmonia: 9-17 Nov). And Joanna MacGregor has seriously sexed up the flagship May/June, barrier-blind Bath International Music Festival.

For the full-on, large orchestra ‘con belto’ you’ll need to make friends with Bristol Hippodrome, where the estimable Welsh National Opera pitch up for two seasons a year (watch out for the brand new James MacMillan ‘Sacrifice’ in a full-throated trio including ‘Trovatore’ and ‘Cinderella’: 6-10 Nov). Check out, too, south Bristol’s Tobacco Factory, where Opera Project strike a light for Carmen (12-27 Oct), and if it’s cutting-edge you’re after, make a ‘Blind Date’ with innovative Tete-a-Tete at Bath Theatre Royal’s egg Theatre (29-30 Nov). Mind you, there’s no such thing as a totally blind date if you gen up first in Venue’s Performance section. Like those ubiquitous builders... dig in!

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