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If you're within shooting distance of London's snazzy new concert hall, - and if you're not snowed in - it's the scene of an extended exploration this week of Mendelssohn's lesser-known chamber music and songs, put together by Eugene Asti, American-born pianist and accompanist. runs from 4 to 8 February and places Mendelssohn in context with such contemporary luminaries as , and , as well as Mendelssohn's sister ; and those he influenced, not least , and (yes, Wagner). Performers include sopranos , , , and Hannah Morrison, mezzo , tenor , baritones and and cellist - a veritable feast of fresh, inventive musical treats. I am reaching for the snow shovel as I write, and hope that the local train company will do likewise.

But here in the Blogosphere, snow is never a problem: Mendelssohn Day on 3 February is an excuse to crack open a bottle of VirtualVintageChampers in the Cyberposhplace usually reserved for the annual Winter Solstice JDCMB Ginger Stripe Music Awards (visit for this). Because of the credit crunch, and because Mendelssohn is such a special and charming fellow, they have agreed to let us in free, on condition that Felix lets us see the trans-dimensional section of the guest list first. So here are a few A-list ghost celebrities who are invited to the bash.

and : Felix's intimate friends. It was thanks to Schumann, who unearthed the piece, that Mendelssohn ended up conducting the world premiere of ; and meanwhile he got on terrifically well with Clara. 'One nice word from Mendelssohn makes her glow for hours,' Schumann grumbled. (Unfortunately they weren't entirely above making the occasional aside behind his back.) The Schumanns were profoundly shocked by Mendelssohn's untimely death; it had a distinctly destabilising effect on Schumann's already seriously disturbed psyche; and when their last son was born, while Schumann was in the mental hospital at , Clara named him Felix.

: a fellow resident, if somewhat earlier, Bach has a retrospective thank-you to offer Mendelssohn, who found and resuscitated his . Few composers of this era had such an ideal grasp of Bachian as Mendelssohn - try his own stunning for piano solo. Contrpuntal lines shine equally effortlessly out of his chamber music and the (try that passage where the main theme suddenly becomes an accompaniment to a new and more lyrical melody), a whopping great chorale theme resounds from the finale of the , and frankly, without Bach, we would never have had .

: If you haven't encountered Fanny Mendelssohn's music before, do try to hear some. It's extremely good - I would venture to say better than 's (though in comparing them I'd be breaking my own principles of not lumping them together merely because they were both women in a man's world...). I recommend Fanny's The Year, a programmatic cycle for piano solo, evoking in a series of musical poems 12 months spent travelling in Italy. It's recently been recorded by the superb (sister of violinist ).

: Not Mendelssohn's best friend, perhaps, but might the Hungarian virtuoso composer-pianist have owed Mendelssohn more than a little debt regarding programmatic music? With Liszt and his son-in-law, musical thinking more or less divided; Liszt is credited with inventing the symphonic poem, Wagner for - well, doing everything that he did with those vast spans of music, through-composed. But to Felix, there was no conflict between traditional symphonic form and 'programme music'. The ecstasy of a response to the coastline, the mist of , seasickness around the , the lift of the heart as the weather clears to let the ship through for its prosperous voyage - all these were Mendelssohn's, tucked neatly into symphonic sonata-form movements, rondos and scherzos that or would have been proud of.

: Perhaps they would have been friends if only Schubert hadn't died aged 31 when Mendelssohn was only 19. We can picture a twenty-something Felix travelling to , clustering entranced into a performance, embracing "the little mushroom" and subsequently throwing his own considerable influence behind the championing of this towering musical genius to whom he would not have hesitated for one moment to defer. If Schubert had lived, Mendelssohn is the man who might have helped to change his fortunes, as he endeavoured to do posthumously.

Jenny Lind: We know a little about her already.

: Another century, yet a kindred soul - also a staggeringly astonishing child prodigy and also of assimilated Jewish background. And Mendelssohn's music effectively saved his life. It was thanks to 's film of (1934-5) that Korngold first went to Hollywood; Reinhardt invited him to arrange Mendelssohn's incidental music for the movie. The resulting score is of course recognisably Mendelssohn, but became recognisably Korngold as well: he paid tribute to it by making it his own. Then invited him back to write original scores for them; hence he was in Hollywood composing at the time of the . Had he still been in Vienna, he would probably have died. Both composers were, of course, banned by the Nazis.

and : Fanfare, please! Mendelssohn's own account proves the musicality of this royal pair: 'I begged the Prince to begin by playing something, so that I could boast of it in Germany. He played a chorale by heart, with the pedals - and so charmingly, precisely and accurately that it would have done credit to a professional....Then it was my turn, and I began with the chorus from , How Lovely are the Messengers. Before I had come to the end of the first verse, they both (Victoria and Albert) began singing the chorus, and Prince Albert managed the stops so cleverly for me...that I was quite enchanted.'

Who else shall we invite? Suggestions, please?