Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | English | Andreas Schager

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

Doing justice to the vast scale of Mahler's "Symphony of a Thousand" is itself the mightiest of tasks. Semyon Bychkov and his NDR forces only partially succeed.

Andreas Schager is the main reason to catch the latest revival of Otto Schenk's ultra-traditional Tannhäuser.

Vincent Huguet's 2019 production of Richard Strauss‘ masterpiece is given a stupendous revival at the Wiener Staatsoper with an excellent ensemble of soloists.

Will Siegfried get his girl? Will she turn out to be his sister? And has the ultimate prize already got into the wrong hands? More posers from Bayreuth's intriguing new Ring.

Ulf Schirmer bows out as General Music Director as the last of Wagner's 13 operas completes a successful Festival Wagner 22 in Leipzig.

Mahler's Song of the Earth fits the bill of the Philharmonia's “Human/Nature: Music for a Precious Planet” series, and Xian Zhang has no need to hold the orchestra back! 

In the tiring role of Menelaus Andreas Schager was a mighty Heldentenor, combining impressive sound power with a dazzling colour and without ever showing a moment of fatigue.

Irene Théorin and Andreas Schager lead a stunning musical performance, as Guy Cassiers vision of The Ring becomes clear.  

Daniel Barenboim conducts much of Siegfried as an intimate chamber opera, resulting in an unexpected musical joy, with an excellent cast of singers headed by Michael Volle’s Wanderer.

Despite its enigmatic details, Bayreuth's Parsifal reaches a cathartic climax. 

Tamara Wilson was a top-notch Ariadne, supported by a strong cast, including Kate Lindsey as a passionate Composer, a thrilling Zerbinetta by Daniela Fally, and an unbeatable Bacchus in Andreas Schager.

In this new distillation of The Ring, more is less.

A passionless staging of Wagner's masterpiece throws cold water on Barenboim's fiery conducting at the Staatsoper.

With a plethora of theatre seats, stools and benches it was as if Willy Decker and Wolfgang Gussman had been elected ‘Chair-men of the bored”.

The Wiener Staatsoper revives a beautiful production of Daphne that juxtaposes myth, dream and reality, with brilliant vocal performances by the two leads.

The production was interesting but at times distracting, but the musical performances triumphed. 

An exceptional musical performance was enhanced by a streamlined but ultimately moving staging in an evening of near perfection in Dresden.

Magisterial playing and conducting underpin an outstanding, engrossing evening of Wagner at the Schiller Theater.

Not even the musical genius of Daniel Barenboim could turn Harry Kupfer’s irritating Sitzprobe production into a “Namenlose Freude”.

Uwe Eric Laufenberg sets his new staging of Wagner's final opera among the persecuted Christians of the contemporary Middle East – but avoids preaching.

Staatsoper Berlin's Götterdämmerung featured memorable vocal performances from Iréne Theorin and Andreas Schager, with Daniel Barenboim and his orchestra providing the rest of the drama.

A strong performance at Staatsoper Berlin of the third opera of the Ring, Siegfried, was a showcase for tenor Andreas Schager in the title role.

The lack of shock value in Calixto Bieito’s interpretation of Wagner's Tannhäuser premiering at the Vlaamse Opera in Ghent could almost be seen as a disappointment. All the more surprising then was the romantic intimacy created in this superlatively sung production.

Soprano Regine Hangler and tenor Andreas Schager made their Cleveland debuts in Strauss’s most difficult to cast opera, accompanied by virtuoso playing from the orchestra.

Valery Gergiev brings George Tsypin's Ring staging to a spectacular close with Götterdämmerung in Birmingham.

The world ended again last night. It ends fairly frequently in performances and in recordings, and that schedule tends to innoculate us against Richard Wagner’s political and philosophical messages. If ever there were to be a performance to transcend that, it would come at the Proms, at the conclusion of its first full performance of Der Ring des Nibelungen.