Anne Marie Stanley and Jolyon Loy in Rape of Lucretia. Photo: Camilla Greenwell

BACK in the 1940s it was just about possible to turn an ancient story about rape into an opera without fear of the piece being completely overwhelmed by its subject matter. These days it’s a different matter. Which makes Britten’s Rape of Lucretia, written 1946, a difficult work to stage – especially in terms of the emotionally restrained, near-ceremonial manner that the text suggests. The new production by Oliver Meares that opened the other week at Aldeburgh and is about to transfer to the Royal Opera’s Linbury Theatre, tries to find a solution in contemporary realism, updating the story from pre-Imperial Rome to a suburban sitting room in modern times. And a lot gets lost in the process: not least, the sultry atmosphere of hot Italian nights that Britten captures in his music. But it’s an interesting show, grappling with big issues. The cast of young singers is impressive. And though Lucretia isn’t one of Britten’s A-list scores, it has moments of poignancy and beauty that will haunt your mind. So worth experiencing. Runs Nov 13-22 (closing on what would have been Britten’s 109th birthday). roh.org.uk

• November is remembrance time and, as always, there’s a glut of Requiems happening around now, with no less than four on Nov 12. At the Union Chapel, Islington, you get two for the price of one, with both the Fauré and the less well-known Charpentier done period-style by the promising new Figure Ensemble under rising young conductor Freddie Waxman: unionchapel.org.uk Meanwhile, at St Mary’s Primrose Hill the Camden Choir sing Brahms’s German Requiem in the composer’s own version for two-piano accompaniment: camdenchoir.london And at the grandly spacious All Hallows Gospel Oak, Highgate Choral Society join forces with the New London Orchestra for Mozart’s Requiem – performed alongside a rare work by Vaughan Williams, his Garden of Proserpine, and the premiere of Ronald Corp’s 3rd Symphony: hcschoir.com

On that same busy day, Nov 12, you don’t have to take your pick from Beethoven’s piano sonatas, because keyboard wizard Julian Jacobson is playing all 32 of them – in a marathon performance that runs (with intervals) 9am to 10pm at the newly refurbished St John’s Waterloo. Not just a feat of stamina, but of memory because he won’t be playing from printed – or digital – scores. Julianjacobson.com

• Also at St John’s Waterloo this week is the start of the new winter season of Spotlight Chamber Concerts – so called because the organiser, clarinettist Anthony Friend, tries to create a sense of intimacy through focused lighting that leaves much of the space in darkness. Just remember where you put your bag down. Opening night is Nov 14 with violinist Alina Ibragimova and pianist Samson Tsoy playing Mozart, Janacek and Brahms. Events during the coming weeks bring pianist Angela Hewitt and the Doric Quartet. spotlightchamberconcerts.com

• Finally, the inflated ego of Wagner is brought down to size this week at Freemason’s Hall, Holborn, where Regents Opera perform the first instalment of his Ring Cycle, Rhinegold, with an orchestra of just 18 instruments. Runs Nov 13-24. Regentsopera.com