Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | English | John Lundgren

Undeterred by the weather, an enthusiastic audience greeted an al fresco Tosca of international star quality.

Andrew Staples creates an austere, monochrome semi-staging that's strangely appropriate to the times; Peter Mattei and John Lundgren lead an excellent cast.

Nina Stemme returns to Hobart and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra under Marko Letonja, with an all-Wagner concert, ably assisted by Swedish bassJohn Lundgren 

Young musicians and experienced stars combine for a thrilling Frau in its centenary year

Herheim places the composer at the centre of his opera in a staging that's clever and erudite but somewhat cold; musical performances are mixed.

Wagner's storytelling shines brightly with the aid of a cast well out of the ordinary. Vinke, Stemme, Siegel and Lundgren make part 3 of The Ring an unforgettable evening of opera.

We start with a triumphant Royal Opera debut from Stuart Skelton, we close with Nina Stemme at her finest; a thrilling orchestral performance links the two. A memorable Walküre.

Antonio Pappano and the Royal Opera Orchestra get the Ring cycle off to a blazing start; unusually, it's Lise Davidsen and the female cast who take the vocal honours.

The battle of the choirs is a thrilling moment in just about any performance of Dutchman, but produces shock and awe in the live acoustics of Budapest's Bartok Bela Concert Hall.

An unlikely coupling of one-act operas by Zemlinsky and Puccini bears fruit in a staging that reveals their thematic parallels while leaving their obvious differences on show.

Siegfried in Leipzig succeeds on all fronts: an engaging production, a great ensemble of singers and a well-conducted orchestra.

A performance of Wagner's Siegfried stands or falls by its titular hero and Lars Cleveman is highly experienced. 

Stemme as Brünnhilde delivered her opening battle cry in Victorian riding habit like one of Trollope's racier fox- hunting heroines.

John Lundgren, bullet-headed, youthful and overbearing, gave a world-class performance as Wotan. 

Visual references both incongruous and perceptive abound in the third instalment of Bayreuth's musically triumphant Ring cycle.

Singing, orchestral playing and scenic portrayal all combine to make a highly memorable second instalment of Wagner's Ring.

Although technical problems threatened to undermine this production, Anja Harteros' Elsa and Klaus Florian Vogt's Lohengrin transcended all.

Puccini's La fanciulla del West gets a modern update at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

Nina Stemme's domination of the heaviest dramatic soprano repertoire continues with an outstanding Isolde at the Zurich Opera House, ably assisted by Stephen Gould, Matti Salminen, and other notable performers under John Fiore.

A revival of the new production of Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Munich Opera Festival brings back four of the principals in a brilliantly sung performance of Richard Strauss' masterpiece.