Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | English | Mother Goose (Ma Mère l'Oye)

Sir Mark Elder conducts colourful music by Rimsky-Korsakov and Ravel before a low-fat, unsentimental Brahms 4. 

American soprano Julia Bullock offered an impassioned, impeccably sung interpretation of Britten's Les Illuminations, bookended by elegant Ravel standards.

With Alain Altinoglu at the podium, the programme of works by Beethoven, Ravel and Stravinsky showed off Levit's lightness and freshness and brought out the excitement of fairytales.

Why don’t brass ensembles have a regular presence in the classical concert scene, in comparison to string ensembles or at least woodwind ensembles? 

Games of various types pirouetted in and out of Les Siècles' Gallic programme last night, from Debussy's play of the waves in La Mer to the shenanigans of a distinctly adult game of tennis in his ballet Jeux.

John Adams' Scheherazade.2 is chalking up performances around the world. Would it live up to expectations? 

What a pleasure it was to see the effervescent Marc Minkowski conducting a programme of 20th-century French music with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. It was certainly a lively and well-thought-out concert, with Minkowski bringing all the clarity and detailed awareness of colour that he has bought to his performances of early music.

Alan Gilbert, Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, was an unexpected guest this past weekend at Severance Hall. Pierre Boulez had been announced as the guest conductor, but a few weeks ago he was forced to cancel his appearance for medical reasons.

One of the most well-known pieces of the twentieth-century classical repertoire is of course Igor Stravinsky’s ballet The Rite of Spring.

Dancing Nights was a great title for this evening’s concert by Northern Sinfonia – a perfectly balanced selection of light-hearted music, with every piece on the main programme written with the intention of making people happy in one way or another.