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Klaus Mäkelä and the Orchestre de Paris give us an orchestral kaleidoscope, Kosky's pared-down staging allows the emotions of Strauss and Hofmannstahl's work to shine through.

Gautier Capuçon, Pierre Bleuse and the Orchestre du Festival Casals bring a devastating Shostakovich First Cello Concerto to Aix-en-Provence's Festival de Pâques. 

Beatrice Rana, Mikko Franck and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France bring a thrilling Tchaikovsky First Piano Concerto to the Festival de Pâques, even if their Shostakovich 10 is more of a beauty than a bully. 

Sir Simon Rattle and the LSO give an orchestral performance to remember, with a fine singing cast, but Simon McBurney's staging dials the bleakness to maximum too early.

Sir George Benjamin and Martin Crimp’s fourth opera shares the best qualities of their previous work but is an inspiring, breathtaking fable.

Brecht and Weill’s political satire could hardly be more relevant, but Thomas Ostermeier and Maxime Balcon's new production fails to do it justice.

The Flying Dutchman – or Le Vaisseau fantôme as it is known in French – makes a fleeting appearance at the Grand Théâtre de Provence in a rousing concert performance conducted by the dapper François-Xavier Roth. 

The French pianist thrills in Brahms, Schubert and Schubert clothed by Liszt in a stunning recital in Aix-en-Provence.

The Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai impresses in “bleeding chunks” from Wagner operas at the Festival de Pâques d'Aix-en-Provence.

The Festival d'Aix-en-Provence gives us a definitive performance of Wagner's opera – but for listening only.

A highly successful Falstaff at the Archevêché in Aix-en-Provence, for our greater pleasure: a true lesson in joy in a world where, we are told, all is but a joke.

A lovely recital of Schubert, Debussy and Beethoven by the Portuguese pianist in Aix’s Théâtre du Jeu de Paume.

All the music in their joyous concert was composed to delight the ear, and during a distressing pandemic there can be no higher calling.

Even outstanding soloists had to wait their turn in this Rolls-Royce performance in Aix-en-Provence.

In his 2016 opera Blank Out, Dutch composer Michel van der Aa has managed to create a new kind of operatic ‘reality’ that resonates powerfully with today’s Zeitgeist. Highly recommended.

Janowski's concept rang consistently true and the musicians did him proud.

What a day to hear an all-French programme, and with this fragile moment at its heart criticism feels futile, disrespectful even.

The musicians of MusicAeterna were impassioned, engaged and energised into a single force in this performance of Verdi's Requiem at the Aix Easter Festival.

A dashing, captivating concert, lacking only a few mood-changers to stimulate the audience’s eager receptors.

McBurney's brilliant stagecraft brings child-like wonderment to the most hardened adults; his interpretation and Raphaël Pichon's conducting exude Mozartian rightness.

With a stunningly inventive and modern-sounding score, strong acting performances and a staging full of theatrical illusion and coherent in spite of general weirdness, Aix's Fiery Angel impresses.

Lise Davidsen and Sabine Devieilhe produce soprano heaven in their contrasting vocal styles. Katie Mitchell’s staging feels disappointingly familiar.

Daniel Barenboim's absence may have confounded the all-Debussy programme but it left the Aix audience with a beautifully balanced recital.

A performance that sacrificed a degree of Gallic fragrance in its pursuit of precision.

Aimez-vous Brahms? For anyone who thought they didn’t, this sharp, disciplined band will have made converts.

Trottmann used profile, posture and facial expression to bring each song to life. 

Don't attempt to plough through the synopsis, but enjoy Cavalli's sexy score, persuasively performed in Jean Bellorini's modern staging. 

Jean-François Sivadier's pulsating new production propels The Don through his lusty adventures at a whirlwind pace. 

Simon McBurney's production of The Rake's Progress for Festival d'Aix-en-Provence begins with the equivalent of a blank page – a simple white paper box onto which he pours his inspiration.

Love may well be a rebellious bird, but that's as nothing to maverick director Dmitri Tcherniakov, whose twisted staging for Festival d'Aix reimagines Bizet's opera as a radical therapy session.

If I wrote that I loved Philippe Boesmans' Pinocchio, my nose may grow a little. The 81-year old composer in collaboration with Joël Pommerat, shifts the tale far away from any cutesy Disney fantasy, returning it to the harsh reality of Carlo Collodi's original fable.

A double bill of Tchaikovsky's Iolanta and Stravinsky's Perséphone fares strongly in Aix-en-Provence. 

A trip down memory lane sends our man in Aix into raptures as Robert Carsen's production of Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream comes home to Provence. 

An updating of Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail to the post-World War One era in a desert fails to inspire in Aix. 

Ana Sokolović Svabda (Marriage) leaves six singers in search of an opera on Aix's Théâtre du Jeu de Paume stage. 

The 67th Aix Festival got off to a hot, heady start with Katie Mitchell's witty and ingenious staging of Handel's 1735 sorcery opera Alcina. 

The choir of Les Arts Florissants is composed of some of today’s most dynamic singers, who can sing, act, and even appear in two places at the same time. Well, in a matter of speaking.

One of the most sophisticated offerings in the 2012 Festival d’Aix-en-Provence is a new production of Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s David et Jonathas.

The 2012 Festival d’Aix-en-Provence began its four-week feast of opera and music with Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro—and could there be better a way? Nothing can beat the sublime company of Mozart, Da Ponte and Beaumarchais on a summer evening in the open-air Théâtre de l'Archevêché.

Sous la baguette de leur ancien directeur musical Daniele Rustioni, les musiciens de l'Opéra de Lyon ont proposé une mémorable interprétation de l'œuvre de Verdi, en version française, avec une distribution remarquable.

Entre deux représentations de La Femme sans ombre, Klaus Mäkelä et l'Orchestre de Paris ont livré une interprétation de concert captivante de l'opéra de Béla Bartók.

Des mélodies de Duparc à « Quand on n’a que l’amour » de Brel en passant par Puccini, le ténor franco-suisse a montré l'étendue de ses capacités, bien accompagné par Qiaochu Li au piano.

Comme un œnologue, Raphaël Pichon a assemblé une première partie de concert passionnante à partir de diverses œuvres de Schubert, avec un Stéphane Degout éloquent en Doppelgänger habité par des spectres.

Le tandem qui avait tant réussi ses Indes galantes à Bastille se prend les pieds dans le tapis d'un projet à la fois trop austère musicalement et bâclé sur le plan du projet scénique.

Le retour de la production du chef-d'œuvre de Mozart mis en scène par Romeo Castellucci et dirigé par Raphaël Pichon marque toujours autant les esprits.

Création marquante au Théâtre du Jeu de Paume : avec Accabadora, Francesco Filidei livre une partition intense, qui éclaire avec finesse le besoin d'une législation autour du droit à mourir dignement.

Parfaitement accompagné par Bryan Wagorn, la soprano américaine a régalé le public, allant jusqu'à se démultiplier entre les différents personnages d'un même opéra !

Lauréate du Concours Chopin en 2010, la pianiste russe a admirablement recréé la galaxie des Préludes op. 28 du compositeur, après une première partie Bach-Liszt déjà très consistante.

À l'issue d'une journée d'immersion au Camp des Milles entre tables rondes, concerts et visite du site, le Requiem de Verdi a réservé des pages fortes mais a surtout paru étrangement déséquilibré.

Entre le vieux monde de Brahms et celui des années 1930 de Barber et Barraine, le cœur des interprètes a balancé, laissant in fine une impression mitigée.