Live, Video: Kritiken zu klassischen Konzerten, Opern, Ballett und Tanz finden | Jacqueline Shave

A game of three halves from the Britten Sinfonia, with a late appearance by three star soloists.

A conductorless performance of Handel's masterpiece lights up the Barbican.

Clyne, Ligeti and Pärt sit down with Bach and Scarlatti for a spot of lunch!

A clever programme of mid-20th century American music by Carter, Copland and contemporaries, watered down with a light sprinkling of Arlen and Gershwin.

A superb lunch time concert by the Britten Sinfonia players which included outstanding performances of works by Debussy, Fauré and a newly commissioned work titled "Light and Matter” by the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho. 

The Britten Sinfonia's tribute to Mozart fell somewhat flat, with only hauntingly beautiful Kurtág able to somewhat redeem passionless performances of Adams and Tavener.

The centenary of Britten’s birth has seen a surge in performances of his music both in the concert hall and on the stages of many a noted opera house. Sensationalised biographies, radio and television programmes, and a number of Britten-centred festivals have helped to pique further interest in a composer whose music tends to attract a love-hate relationship with its listeners.

Symposium Hall is a new 158-seat church conversion venue in Edinburgh’s attractive Hill Square. Its mix of tradition and newness made a fitting venue for the final date in Svara-Kanti’s UK tour. Encoded in the name (svara = sound/notes and kanti = beauty) is the group’s raison d’être; the new territory to be found in the marriage of Indian and Western instruments and traditions.

22 November 2012 would have been Benjamin Britten’s 99th birthday. Wigmore Hall marked the occasion with the first concert in a series of nine events in November and December. However, rather than focusing exclusively on Britten’s music, it built towards the climax that saw Britten’s angst-ridden late masterpiece Phaedra searingly performed.

How do you get more people interested in classical music? It’s a difficult question, but I’d never have guessed it was difficult enough to give to Sherlock Holmes.

Pleasantly enough, Britten Sinfonia went down a thoroughly unconventional route in celebrating their 20th birthday at the Barbican on Saturday, with a brilliantly varied range of new pieces mixing with chamber orchestra classics.