Living in south London, you’ll know that we aren’t exactly over furnished with classical music. Which makes St Luke’s Music Society (SLMS) like a chaise longue, sitting in the corner all elegant, handsome and irresistible to further investigation.

So three cheers for the new season. It begins in October, and the standard of guest is as high as ever, with visits from violinist Nicola Benedetti, bassist Willard White and the Yehudo Menuhin School Orchestra. Details of the the rest of the season remain buried behind a revolving bookcase at SLMS towers, until all contracts have been signed and handshakes silently exchanged.

The visit of Willard White is particularly exciting; this knight of the realm normally performs in operas by Handel, Mozart, Verdi, Wagner and Gershwin, but in February he will be lending his baritone to a set of Paul Robeson songs.

White recently released his debut solo album, My Way, which features Robeson’s Ol’ Man River as well as standards such as I Loves You Porgy and Cole Porter’s Blow, Gabriel Blow and songs from his Jamaican upbringing (he now lives in south east London).

Nicola Benedetti seems to have been around for a while but she is only 21. Before she reached her teens she had soloed at Wigmore Hall and performed at the Yehudi Menuhin memorial celebrations at Holyrood Palace and Westminster Abbey. Since then, the prestigious and royal engagements have poured forth and she has released two albums and collected the 2004 BBC Young Musician of the Year award. Benedetti plays St Luke’s in March.

Maybe she will hang around for the visit of her alma mater, the Yehudi Menuhin School, and its orchestra (May). To paraphrase the Marks and Spencer adverts, this isn’t just any old school orchestra. It is described by SLMS committee member Robin Cooke-Hurle as “probably better than most symphony orchestras” and its alumni include Nigel Kennedy, Tasmin Little, Alina Ibragimova and Marius Stravinsky.

This is the sixth SLMS series, which is a source of considerable pride for Cooke-Hurle: “The hardest thing is to make it past the first few years so it’s great to be starting our sixth year.

“If you look back at the artists we’ve had, we’ve been getting better and better, but the great unknown is still whether you can build up an audience and get local business support, which we’ve done so it is all hugely encouraging.

“We’re becoming a really serious music series and I can’t think any other one like us in south London.”

St Luke’s Music Society; season starts October, St Luke’s Church, Thurleigh Road, Clapham, SW12 8RQ, visit slms.org.uk