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■ Lauryn Hill

Fresh from posting her track Black Rage online in the wake of the Ferguson riots, the former Fugees singer comes to the UK for her first shows here in more than two years. 20-21 September at Academy Brixton (0844 477 2000), then touring.

■ Electra

Expect Kristin Scott Thomas to unleash some Jungian terror, as Sophocles is given new life by Ian Rickson, the acclaimed director of Jerusalem. The Old Vic, London (0844 871 7628), 22 September to 20 December.

■ Ai Weiwei

Though he remains passport‑less and confined to China, he is now somehow installing his biggest UK show to date. A 3D computer model of the grand country house has enabled him to make his vision – which includes cabinets of "freedom flowers" and more than 2,000 porcelain crabs – a reality. Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire (01993 810 530), 1 October to 14 December.

■ Ming: 50 years that changed China

The British Museum's blockbuster show for autumn should gleam with the treasures of this gilded age of 15th-century decadence – many of which have not left China before. British Museum, London (020-7323 8181), 18 September to 5 January 2015.

Last chance to see

■ Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs

Magnificent, unmissable exhibition of the vibrant works that Matisse snipped and sliced out of paper in his fruitful last years. Tate Modern, London (020-7887 8888), until 7 September.