Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | English | The Bartered Bride: Overture

Semyon Bychkov produces a gripping and soul-searching Shostakovich Eighth while soprano Elena Stikhina makes an impressive UK debut in Tchaikovsky.

BBC Philharmonic and Edward Gardner tackle Janáček’s Sinfonietta in a well-crafted programme of French and Czech music.

The Cleveland Orchestra’s Chicago appearance with music director Franz Welser-Möst offered symphonies of Beethoven and Sibelius in performances that exuded both precision and beauty.

Smetana’s Bartered Bride overture set the stage for an intriguing new concerto by Richard Sortomme for two violas, followed by Schubert’s “Great” C major symphony.

Gyula Fekete's concerto based on themes from Chinese TV headlines a mixed programme at a concert which didn't succeed in everything but was generously filled with melody throughout.

Unexpected insights and fresh perspectives from period instrument performances by the OAE and Fischer of Smetana, Brahms and Dvořák forced the audience to listen to in a new way.

Rich gifts of from the distinctive OAE, with Vikoria Mullova adding austere authority to Brahms and Ádám Fischer bringing out all the colour in Dvořák's “New World” Symphony.

With so much focus - understandably - on London's concerts during the Proms season, it is a delight to be able to listen to and attend various other related performances across the UK. 

For this concert the Prague Symphony Orchestra brought their classical music heritage overseas to Colston Hall. The programme gave us a taste of composers close to the orchestra’s homeland, providing a delightful evening of luxury – in music and in dress code.

Extraordinary things happen in St Barnabas Church, Ealing. On a couple of occasions, 32 pianists have played 32 Beethoven piano sonatas over one weekend, and every so often the building is host to Ealing Symphony Orchestra, who dare to embark on programmes that feature works you just will not hear anyone else perform – first public performances of Ives’ Orchestral Set no.

The Solent Symphony Orchestra, ably conducted by Steve Tanner, presented an exciting programme in the resonant acoustics of Portsmouth Cathedral. The Smetana Bartered Bride Overture and Dances set the atmosphere of the evening with energetic performances all round.These were followed by a rhapsodic account of the Ravel Piano Concerto in G.