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Lively performances offer fresh perspectives on elegies old and new in the penultimate ChamberFest Cleveland concert. 

For her debut at the head of the Berliner Philharmoniker, Marin Alsop reflects on what a ‘home’ is through works by Tarkiainen, Dean, Copland and Villa-Lobos. 

80% less of Shakespeare's text adds up to more intensity in Brett Dean's Hamlet as Neil Armfield's staging is mounted by Opera Australia. 

With the LPO it's always good to expect the unexpected. Two contemporary pieces including a vibrant clarinet concerto pave the way for a neglected Russian masterpiece.

Brett Dean’s Hamlet at the Met is a worthy addition to the operatic canon, and the production is a treat. 

Edward Gardner and the LPO offer controlled expression in Britten and reassuring tranquility in Vaughan Williams.

A fuel-filled programme from the London Philharmonic under Hannu Lintu in Nielsen and Mahler, while Lawrence Power exudes contemporary flair in Brett Dean’s Viola Concerto.

A boldly curated programme, showcasing two ambitious orchestral works premiered during the last two years, proved to be a most stimulating evening. 

Jurowski’s performances with the LPO are always thoughtfully curated, well prepared and entertaining. This concert was no exception. 

After Bach and Brett Dean, the LPO gave Stravinsky’s Pulcinella a ride in their musical Rolls-Royce... and it gleamed.

Brett Dean's operatic reworking of Shakespeare's Hamlet receives its German premiere in a powerful new staging by the work's librettist Matthew Jocelyn.

Sakari Oramo conducts the European première of a fine new work alongside familiar Grieg and Sibelius.

Brett Dean's Hamlet is an extremely powerful theatrical experience, excelling in all aspects of production, singing and musical values, but is it an opera?

A restless score, a stylish modern setting and gripping central performances from David Butt Philip (trading Laertes at the festival for the title role here) and Jennifer France (Ophelia) do much to commend this new work

This wasn’t just any concert. The Zurich Tonhalle’s new season was opening in a brand new hall in the trendy Züri-West quarter of the city.

Brett Dean treats Shakespeare's behemoth as a timeless story told in language that has become timeless; no effort is spared in elucidating and amplifying that story.

Oramo and the BBCSO were dynamic in the UK première of Brett Dean's thought-provoking suite and provided a solid account of Richard Strauss' Ein Heldenleben.

Oramo and the BBC Symphony Orchestra negotiate a challenging first half with works by Bax and Dean, followed by a superb rendering of Elgar's first symphony

The devil was in the details for the Boston Symphony Orchestra's first Prom this year; even mastering the Albert Hall's acoustic, some unfortunate errors let the side down.

The maverick Aurora Orchestra returns to the Proms, and doesn't disappoint.

The BBC Symphony Orchestra continued to offer its audience adventurous programming, with this evening’s London première of Brett Dean’s Dramatic Personae.

Brett Dean's The Annunciation offers a Moderninst take on Christmas traditions. Curiosities from Respighi and Strauss complete an eccentric programme.

The chances to hear two recitals on consecutive nights, featuring exceptional artists of international renown in the friendly environment and outstanding acoustics of the City Recital Hall are akin to winning a (musical) lottery in Sydney.

An impressive performance of Oedipus Rex under Sakari Oramo, demonstrating that his rapport with his new orchestra has grown rapidly. 

How would the Choir of King's College, Cambridge cope in the difficult acoustic of Sydney Opera House? Under the direction of Stephen Cleobury, they delivered a polished programme.

Angels, Emperors and Heroes - Emanuel Ax continues his Sydney Beethoven cycle in style. 

Alison Bell joins Britten Sinfonia to wow at Wigmore Hall in the fourth of the orchestra’s lunchtime chamber series, including Schoenberg's String Quartet no. 2.

RSNO, Søndergård and Frang perform a thoughtful programme of dislocation and migration: Dean, Britten and Dvořák.

Works by Bryce Dessner, Ligeti, Steven Mackey and others create an intellectually stimulating evening of new music.

Emanual Ax demonstrated brilliance both as creative innovator and performer, paying homage the pianist's pianist, Johannes Brahms.

The day before Stravinsky’s 131st birthday, the Auckland Chamber Orchestra and conductor Peter Scholes presented a programme built around the Russian composer’s Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments and featuring works by Lyell Cresswell, George Antheil and Brett Dean. Lyell Cresswell is a New Zealand composer currently living in Scotland.

“Europe’s answer to the ACO” was how composer Brett Dean described the Mahler Chamber Orchestra before its first concert in Sydney. Despite the similarity in names, the two are very different ensembles.

The Palais im Großen Garten in Dresden is an interesting place to perform classical music. It’s completely unlike any other concert venue, with its wholly dilapidated interior projecting an image of lost grandeur. In many ways this is perfect for a classical music concert, especially chamber music.

For many reasons, the ACO’s most recent show The Reef was an artistic experience like no other in all my years of concert-going. It is difficult even categorising the event: an orchestral concert with accompanying video footage? A film with live soundtrack? Neither does full justice to the nature of the project.

Spot the odd one out: a symphony by Haydn, another by Mozart, a violin concerto by Mozart, and Electric Preludes by Brett Dean (2012). The bill of fare offered by the Australian Chamber Orchestra on Sunday cannot be called typical for them, since their programs evade any easy categorisation, but the gesture of mixing old and new is certainly a familiar gambit.

Northern Sinfonia’s concert in Hall One of the Sage Gateshead last night challenged the audience to put aside our normal preconceptions, to see well-known composers in a slightly different light. Mendelssohn’s “Fifth” Symphony was actually the second one he wrote – at the age of only 20 – but it was not published until after his death and is not played as much as his other symphonies.

With their appetite for musical diversity and youthful enthusiasm, the six-year-old Aurora Orchestra and their principal conductor, Nicholas Collon, have grand ambitions. With ‘When Doves Cry’ they did not disappoint, showing both their exceptional aptitude for showcasing contemporary music and a promising ability to inject freshness into seminal classical works.

A powerful voice in classical music, American conductor Marin Alsop, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, challenged audiences at the Royal Festival to engage with contemporary classical music in an imaginative way.

Much anticipated, ten years in the making, interrupted by some fairly momentous bumpy bits at Opera Australia such as the removal of Music Director Simone Young who comissionned the work in the first place, Bliss has finally arrived. And the good news is that audiences in Sydney received it warmly: the season of just five performances sold out.