Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | English | Emmanuelle de Negri

Polished, deft and attentive, Les Arts Florissants deliver in concert the same slickness that we have come to expect from their impressive array of recordings, but lack vital energy.

William Christie and his ensemble Les Arts Florissants (or The blooming arts – a reference to an opera by Marc-Antoine Charpentier) visited the Hungarian capital to perform Handel’s Messiah in the exceptional acoustics of the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall. 

Opening the Oslo International Church Music Festival with excerpts of a secular opera, Skip Sempé and Capriccio Stravagante fail to impress with their performance of Campra's L'Europe galante.

William Christie named this Salle Pleyel concert “Music for Queen Caroline”, a moving tribute to Handel’s friend, protector and patron, Queen Caroline of Great Britain.

In 1676, Louis XIV’s court composer, Jean-Baptiste Lully, wrote Atys, an unusually tragic opera that became a favorite of the king. In 1987, William Christie’s Les Arts Florissants revived it in an acclaimed series of performances in Paris and eventually at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.