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The newly established Pehlivanian International Conducting Competition’s unusually open format – with in-person auditions in 15 cities around the world – aims to search out the best conducting talent, no matter its origins.

With performances all over the city, amid some of Barcelona’s world renowned architecture, Ciutat de Clàssica offers a way to experience the city through music, away from the tourist throngs...

Featuring the cream of Hungary’s classical music talent – including the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra – this new competition named after Sir Georg Solti is a prestigious addition to a crowded competitive calendar...

With a remarkably extensive season featuring a slew of major guests, and the cream of Japanese classical music talent, the TMSO has an uncanny ability to switch between musical styles on a dime. 

In 2026, Opéra national de Paris presents its first complete cycle of Wagner’s Ring for over a decade, with productions directed by Calixto Bieito. We dig into these striking and provocative productions...

Boasting major orchestras from Sweden, Iceland, France, Germany and the UK, this year’s Migros Culture Percentage Classics draws an appropriately international musical crowd to perform across Switzerland.

With over 300 performances of operas, ballets and concerts, the Hungarian State Opera and National Ballet are ever resourceful. We preview their expansive 2025–26 season. 

Laurence Equilbey’s choir, orchestra and many invited guests present a rich variety of offerings at the beautiful Auditorium of La Seine Musicale, just outside Paris at the south-western end of the Métro.

With a huge programme including many of the biggest names in classical music, one might easily drown in the Palau de la Música’s new season. We chart its waters...

A network of around 50 classical music competitions, EMCY has also been mounting unusual performance projects, which respond to the challenges posed by Coronavirus and the war in Ukraine.

With a focus on Shostakovich, and many prestigious guest orchestras from around Europe, this year’s BBC Proms confirms orchestral music can make a big public statement.

The UK’s premier summer classical music festival offers the chance to get up close to some of the world’s finest orchestras – a transformative experience at any age.

With many of the world’s greatest ensembles and soloists appearing in over 95 concerts, across four weeks from August to September, it’s hard to know where to begin with Bucharest’s rich musical offering.

With concerts featuring Myung-whun Chung at the piano, Pinchas Zukerman leading from the podium, and inventive programming from Chief Conductor Andrea Battistoni, the Tokyo Philharmonic’s 2025 season straddles many divides.

The 2024–25 season features new productions of Turandot, Maria Stuarda, Macbeth and La Bayadère, as well as a host of titles in rep from Hungary and elsewhere.

In its ninth season, the Swiss city of Lugano sees a host of major soloists and ensembles congregate in its idyllic corner of Ticino, in the LAC’s world-class acoustic.

A raft of new full-length narrative ballets is set to premiere in the 2024–25 season: we preview some of the most significant.

Barcelona’s dazzling modernista concert venue sees guest soloists and orchestras from across the world appear in this year’s season, with highlights almost too many to mention.

The Bulgarian capital is truly at the meeting point of world cultures, and the Sofia Philharmonic offers a heady mix of the world’s best classical soloists, as well as homegrown talent.

Migros, one of Switzerland’s largest retailers, has been running a classical music concert series for more than 70 years, with low ticket prices designed to make music widely accessible.

We preview nine major new operas on stage this season in Europe, from composers including Unsuk Chin, Rebecca Saunders, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Philip Venables and Toshio Hosokawa.

The second half of this year’s Proms season heats up with visits from the Czech Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra – along with operas by Bizet and Britten.

Stretching over 8 weeks, and with concerts in London and 6 cities across the UK, this year’s BBC Proms has a vast offering – including guest orchestras, premieres, and celebrations of Holst, Bruckner and Schoenberg.

Founded by Laurence Equilbey, cutting-edge period ensemble Insula orchestra is at the heart of La Seine Musicale’s classical season, which features guest ensembles and soloists from around the world.

Performances by English Touring Opera and the London Philharmonic Orchestra are the highlights of an autumn season at Saffron Hall with a distinctly theatrical vibe – alongside major Baroque and chamber offerings.

For the Holland Festival 2024, maverick Ukrainian director Andriy Zholdak tackles Beethoven’s only opera – exploring the opera’s deep political resonances in a conflict-torn world.

The Reims summer music festival returns this June, and includes appearances from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Nikolai Lugansky, Julia Fischer, Ben Grosvenor and the Percussions de Strasbourg.

Led by Andris Nelsons, together with the Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Shostakovich festival presents almost the composer’s entire output, from 15th May to 1st June 2025.

Zurich sees an impressive 11 new opera and 5 new dance productions in 2024–25, including two world premieres, marking the departure of intendant Andreas Homoki after 13 years at the house.

Kaleidoscopic, surreal, uncanny, crystalline, playful and deadly – we survey eight women composers with new works to be premiered in 2024.

In ten concerts over five days in May, the Swiss city of Schaffhausen hosts a panoply of approaches to the music of the Leipzig cantor – representing a cross-section of contemporary Bach performance.

In the spring the Saffron Walden venue plays host of soloists and a panoply of some of the finest orchestras and ensembles in the country – including the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Britten Sinfonia.

Contemporary opera has bounced back from the disruptions of the pandemic with significant gusto. We look ahead to several major operatic world premieres in the 2023–24 season.

In Tokyo, a fleet of youthful soloists complement a range of big repertoire works – Rite of Spring, Turangalîla-Symphonie, Macbeth, Boléro – full of sex and violence and all things sensual.

Presenting all nine symphonies and the song cycles over ten days in Amsterdam, the Mahler Festival features the Royal Concertgebouw, Budapest Festival, NHK Symphony, Chicago Symphony and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras.

The vast 2023–24 season at Budapest boast 41 different operas and 19 ballets – with new productions of Boris Godunov, Rusalka, ballets by Bartók, and a world premiere from Peter Eötvös.

With Sir Simon Rattle departing, Sir Antonio Pappano steps up as Chief Conductor Designate, alongside a plethora of guest conductors and soloists including Barbara Hannigan, Michael Tilson Thomas and François-Xavier Roth.

The 2023–24 season at Lugano’s LAC boasts a wide range of orchestral and chamber offerings, including visits from Martha Argerich, Ton Koopman, Riccardo Chailly and Grigory Sokolov.

The Czech Philharmonic marks its 130th anniversary with a season perfect for Dvořák fans, with visits from Augustin Hadelich, Sir András Schiff, Sir Antonio Pappano and Janine Jansen.

In their 10th anniversary year, Saffron Hall continues to boast the cream of British orchestral and chamber talent – and some outstanding international visitors too.

An international destination for Early Music, the 44th Ambronay Festival gathers together many well-known artists from all over the world, in a programme combining masterpieces and rarities.

Singapore’s Esplanade welcomes a slew of virtuoso soloists and guest conductors for their alluring new season.

One of the world’s most innovative opera houses, DNO’s new season offers a slew of bold new opera and ballet productions.

This year’s festival features a rare Handel opera, led by director and countertenor Max Emanuel Cenčić, an unusual production of Monteverdi’s L'Orfeo, and a veritable feast of recitals.

Beginning with an unusual Puccini/Ravel double bill, and with two new productions and an array of revivals, New National Theatre Tokyo’s season 2023–24 has much to offer.

With ten new productions and a ballet world premiere, the 2023–24 season at Zurich is the opera gastronome’s delight.

With guest conductors and soloists from the around the world, and a wide range of programming, Rotterdam Philharmonic’s 2023–24 season is as cosmopolitan as their home city.

Brought to you by The Mozart, Prague, here are our picks for the best the city has to offer in spring and summer 2023.

In 2023 the Savonlinna Opera Festival once again offers a unique, summertime operatic experience – situated in a medieval lakeside castle.

A slew of youthful soloists and conductors will appear with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra in their 2023 season – alongside some venerable and prestigious elder hands.