Great music, great cause at Cadogan Hall's fundraiser

Next Wednesday, there will be a chance to hear Mendelssohn's Octet – one of the most exhilarating works in the chamber-music repertoire – at Cadogan Hall in London, performed by musicians including cellist Natalie Clein. The same evening, a group including the Belcea Quartet and clarinettist Michael Collins will play Saint-Saëns's Carnival of the Animals, narrated by Tom Conti. All reason enough to buy a ticket; but this is not just any concert. It has been organised by violinists Matthew Trusler and Maya Koch (who will both perform) as a fundraising event in aid of the Lenny Trusler Children's Foundation. Lenny – Trusler and Koch's baby son – died in 2007 from a rare kidney disease, and the foundation was created in his memory. Michael McIntyre will host an auction, to raise £30,000 for a new incubator for the Whittington hospital in London.