Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | English | Michael Nagy

Time stands still in Amsterdam as seven soloists and four choirs join forces with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra for one of Mahler's greatest challenges, his Eighth Symphony. 

A well thought-out, fearless, affirmation of hope which drew its listeners ever upwards into the realm of ecstasy.

Elīna Garanča's Kundry proves the star of Kirill Serebrennikov's prison staging of Parsifal, a powerful exploration of religion and violence. 

Sven-Erich Bechtolf's staging of Wagner's Ring returns with Franz Welser-Möst at the helm for the final time, having recently announced his retirement of the cycle from his repertoire. 

Axel Ranisch's staging of Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari's one-acter confounds with visual chaos.

Under conductor Thomas Hengelbrock, the Tonhalle Orchester ensemble and 60-voice configuration of the Balthasar Neumann Choir perform the legendary Elijah oratorio at Zurich’s Tonhalle Maag.

If ever a new production of a Mozart opera had a riveting backstory, this one is it. 

Franz Schreker’s Die Gezeichneten (The Branded One) is an unsettling work given the storyline’s background of abduction and clandestine sexual abuse. Calixto Bieito, as expected, eschews ambiguity regarding what goes on behind the scenes, and casts even the titular cripple Alviano Salvago in a damning light.

The Spanish director offers a controversial angle but tones it down to focus on dark psychology rather than spectacle in his staging of Schrecker's hothouse opera.

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

Jaap van Zweden returned to the CSO with a probing account of Brahms’ German Requiem, along with shorter but no less moving works of Mozart and Wagner.

Men unfaithful out of habit? Sheer madness to trust a woman? These were the great themes of what has proven to be Mozart’s most popular opera.

Sir Simon and Berln Philharmonic triumphed in a thought-provoking production of Tristan und Isolde with a fine ensemble of singers.

Warlokowski's staging of Eugene Onegin for the Bayerische Staatsoper works from a bold premise: Onegin is gay. Strong musical and dramatic performances keep the concept coherent and interesting, but it ultimately doesn't convince.

The Bayerische Staatsoper presents an ugly, brutal staging of Zimmermann's Die Soldaten – which is exactly as it should be. Barbara Hannigan's Marie steals the show, but the entire cast manage seemingly impossible musical and dramatic feats.

Christof Loy’s new production of Falstaff for the Deutsche Oper Berlin is a conundrum. While the opera itself tells a story of comeuppance, Loy’s production seemed to be about the positive physical effects of playing pranks on your neighbors.

Programming is one of Simon Rattle’s fortes, and this was clearly evident her. Both works on the programme, Brett Dean’s The Last Days of Socrates and Michael Tippett’s A Child of Our Time are large-scale oratorios dealing with difficult subject matter.

On Saturday, Philippe Herreweghe conducted the season’s most solemn yet spectacular oratorio concert in New York – a performance of J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center. Scored for two choirs, two orchestras, and soloists, this almost operatic depiction of Christ’s Passion was performed by Herreweghe’s Collegium Vocale Gent Choir and Orchestra.

The concert to open the Sydney Symphony Orchestra's 80th Anniversary Series was very much one of contrasts. With the promise of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, the season seemed to be opening in celebratory style. However, the entire first half was devoted to Richard Strauss' Metamorphosen, a piece which is a far cry from the triumphant finale of the Beethoven.