As the London Festival of Baroque Music moves from its traditional springtime slot to November and the heart of autumn, it is perhaps timely that our centre point for this year’s Festival is Johann Sebastian Bach, very much a man for all seasons.

We dive headfirst into his world with our opening concert given by period ensemble Arcangelo who, under the direction of Jonathan Cohen, will play the complete Brandenburg Concertos over the span of one evening. From such rustic exuberance we bookend the opening weekend in sublime spirituality with The Tallis Scholars in works of Lassus, Schütz, Bach and, the highlight for me, Allegri’s Miserere.

Bach’s music is highlighted later in the week: we are so lucky to feature young French harpsichordist Jean Rondeau to give his account of the Goldberg Variations, and Tingshuo Yang (the organ scholar of St John’s College, Cambridge) brings a programme of Bach arranged by other composers.

Immortal Harmony is our title for the Festival this year, a paraphrase of Beethoven who described J.S. Bach as “the immortal God of harmony”. This theme is central to the late Claire van Kampen’s play Farinelli and the King, which opened a decade ago at the Globe Theatre before travelling to the West End and later Broadway. It tells the story of how the power of music and singing helped King Philip V of Spain in his madness. On its tenth anniversary I am delighted to join Claire’s husband Mark Rylance and daughter Juliet Rylance for a special evening celebrating the play, and the life and work of Claire more broadly. Mark – the star of BBC’s Wolf Hall, an Oscar winner and one of our country’s greatest Shakespearean actors – will lead an evening of words, music and more that is not to be missed.

Beyond Bach, to close the Festival we have a remarkable project born at the Palace of Versailles and bringing together French and English musicians; and the emerging professional musicians of Sinfonia Smith Square revel in a program that traces exuberant Spanish and Spanish-inspired sounds from the Renaissance to a concerto receiving its world premiere.

As you’ll see from the programme there is much more to enjoy than the few highlights I have picked out above. I hope you are able to join us for what promises to be an exciting and enriching festival in the magnificent surroundings of Smith Square Hall in the heart of London.