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Chrisoph Loy's new Oslo production of Eugene Onegin only somewhat succeeds in its desire to create a meditation on loneliness, but superb musical performances still make it an utterly compelling piece of music theatre.

Vasily Petrenko and the Oslo Philharmonic's Mahler Nine seemed unaware of what it wanted to be, resulting in a frustratingly directionless, disjointed concert.

In an unusually convincing concert performance, Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Finnish National Opera emphasised the lyrical aspects of Wagner's Das Rheingold.

Bookending a concert with Die Seejungfrau and La Mer, Klaus Mäkelä and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra offered two very different musical depictions of water and the ocean.

Opening Stockholm’s Baltic Sea Festival, professionals and amateurs came together for a joyous and ultimately hopeful performance of Benjamin Britten’s story of Noah’s Ark.

“I have never been that nervous! Not before or since!” says Norwegian baritone Audun Iversen about his appearance in the final round of the 2007 Queen Sonja International Music Competition in Oslo. The aria he was about to sing – “Da geh’ ich zu Maxim” from The Merry Widow – was familiar enough, but before this competition he had only performed it in a Danish translation.

Ralph Vaughan Williams' towering A Sea Symphony and the orchestra of the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet capped off the Oslo opera season in a singularly loud fashion. 

Despite some dramatic frustrations, at least in Oslo, Jones' production is saved by some truly outstanding singing.

Bergen Philharmonic’s programme of Grieg’s Piano Concerto and Gubaidulina’s violin concerto Offertorium offered fascinating insight into the relationship between orchestra and soloist.

An impressively well-planned programme of mostly viola transcriptions by Grainger, Bach, Delius, Ellington and Grieg.

Berlioz’s gargantuan Grande Messe des morts with the Bergen Philharmonic and Edward Gardner opened the Bergen International Festival with deafening climaxes and even more resounding silence.

At their recital at the Bergen International Festival, Bryn Terfel and pianist Caradog Williams presented a programme of overwhelming sameness and neverending joviality.

Ahead of his new production of the tragic opera at Savonlinna Opera Festival, we talk to the director about his plans for the work and his background in circus. 

Dénise Beck shines as the Princess Sidi in the Royal Danish Opera's production of Friedrich Kuhlau's Lulu, receiving its first performances in 180 years.

The first staging of Bellini's Norma in Oslo in over a century is unfortunately hampered by an irritating production, yet some glorious singing does much to rescue the show.

Beautiful, yet uninspired playing resulted in an underwhelming start to the New Year from the Oslo Philharmonic.

Christoph Loy's Oslo production of Wozzeck is a dramatic triumph, with gripping performances from a cast led by Audun Iversen's desperate title character.

François de Carpentries' Oslo production of The Barber of Seville was both unfunny and underwhelming. 

Playing music by Copland, Hovland and Sibelius, the Oslo Philharmonic and Dalia Stasevska gave exciting performances, even though the quality of the music did not always match.

Following some rhythmically challenged Ginastera, Horia Andreescu and the Russian National Orchestra impress with confidently played MacMillan and Tchaikovsky.

The muscular piano playing of Nikolai Lugansky could not save the Russian National Orchestra’s shoddy Enescu and Prokofiev.

Vladimir Jurowski and the LPO gave a stunning performance of Enescu’s operatic masterpiece, despite a dramatically limp concert staging.

Delayed by torrential rain, the Enescu Festival's all-Handel concert took a while to get going, but was an utter delight once it did. 

Calixto Bieito's Tosca, despite an intriguingly modern setting, fails to make sparks fly.

Despite some very creditable orchestral playing, conductor Joshua Weilerstein never quite got anywhere with his programme of Bach, Weill and Brahms.

Paired with some overly serious Mahler, Eivind Buene's melodrama Blue Mountain did not quite convince, its ironic self-awareness getting in the way of itself.

After over a century, Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande finally received its Norwegian première in a fascinating production by Barbora Horáková Joly.

John Butt and the Dunedin Consort closed the Oslo Church Music Festival with fine performances of CPE Bach and Mozart, even though the concert didn't prove quite as innovative as advertised.

Lise Davidsen's Ariadne and Sara Hershkowitz' Zerbinetta shine in the Arctic Philharmonic's slightly lacklustre Ariadne auf Naxos

The Balthasar-Neumann-Chor and Ensemble performed a deeply moving, if slightly uneven, St John Passion, setting off the Oslo Church Music Festival.

The Oslo Philharmonic played finely tuned Gabrieli and virtuosic Bach, finishing with a surprisingly sinister performance of Mahler's Fourth Symphony.

The revival of Calixto Bieito's Carmen in Oslo proves a bumpy ride, with uneven singing and orchestral playing, saved by Katarina Bradić's captivating portrayal of the title heroine.

With his first foray into Rossini, Norwegian director Stefan Herheim turns La Cenerentola into a brilliantly funny spectacle, filled with thought provoking humour and outstanding singing.

Conductor Han-Na Chang and the Oslo Philharmonic impressed with a fiercely fast overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila and an exciting new piece by Norwegian composer Jan Erik Mikalsen.

Despite occasionally brilliant singing, the Norwegian National Opera fails to raise seasonal spirits with a dramatically inert Cavalleria rusticana and a shaky Pagliacci.

With disappointing Schumann followed by engrossing, but incomplete, excerpts from Wagner's Götterdämmerung, Marek Janowski and the Oslo Philharmonic fail to make a splash.

Despite an excellent cast and some glorious singing, Stephen Langridge's oft-revived 2012 production of Puccini's Madama Butterfly never quite takes flight. 

With Morton Feldman's Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello, the Cikada ensemble embarked on a unsettlingly calming exploration of life itself.

Calixto Bieito's staging of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem is violent, shocking and uniquely powerful.

Director and choreographer Jo Strømgren's production of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice brings together ballet and opera, but succeeds only with limited results.

Vox Luminis kept it in the family as they performed lesser-known motets by Johann Sebastian Bach's ancestors.

Thursday's opening of the Oslo Chamber Music Festival showed an enticing bredth of programming, showcasing a wide array of new and old music, all performed with utter conviction.

Looks can be deceiving in this beautifully sung revival of Thaddeus Strassberger's Oslo production of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro.

While Paul Lewis impressed in Beethoven's Fifth Piano Concerto, Vasily Petrenko and the Oslo Philharmonic struggled to keep pace. Luckily, they seemed more at home in Scriabin's Second Symphony.

Juanjo Mena and the Oslo Philharmonic presented a programme of Haydn, Mozart and Brahms, drawing historical parallels, but most importantly showcasing some very fine playing.

Andreas Homoki's 2004 Turandot makes its way to Oslo, but fails to impress with less-than-halfbaked concepts and underwhelming singing.

Herbert Blomstedt, Christian Ihle Hadland and the Oslo Philharmonic gave scintillating performances of Beethoven and Mahler.

Ole Andreas Tandberg's production of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk gets a revival in Oslo, and proves even more chilling than the first time around.

Rolf Wallin and Mark Ravenhill’s new opera Elysium tackles fundamental questions about humanity itself, and largely succeeds. Despite slightly uneven music and libretto, the performers shine in this sci-fi opera.

Ottavio Dantone, the Accademia Bizantina and the Norwegian Soloists' Choir gave a strong performance of Handel's oratorio Belshazzar.