Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews

Designer/director Antony McDonald treads a perfectly weighted path between light and dark of the fairytale; conductor Sebastian Weigle cooks up a Wagnerian storm; Michaela Schuster steals the show. A treat.

Dance, jazz and Latin rhythms were all present in this programme, which rolled back the years to Rattle's early years. 

Bourne's radical reworking of Swan Lake returns to Sadler's Wells, 23 years after its premiere. 

The Swedish clarinetist's recital in Alice Tully Hall, part of the Great Performers at Lincoln Center series, was as thrilling and rewarding as any before. 

Christian Thielemann led a memorable performance of Strauss's chamber opera Ariadne auf Naxos with a strong cast in a new straightforward production by David Hermann.

In Zurich, ballet director Christian Spuck recently launched the second season of the multi-layered ballet he choreographed to the great P.I. Tchaikovsky score.

Young Czech composers shine in an imaginative multimedia preview of music in the 22nd century.

The Pavel Haas musicians teased out the fast-shifting colours with aching beauty.

In two equally impressive performances, students from the RNCM star in these two one-act operas.

Hats off to Andreas Homoki, Artistic Director at the Zurich Opera House, for staging a musical around “the chill of ghostly shadows”.

Korngold's Violin Concerto from Simone Lamsma is delivered with extraordinary deftness and depth, while Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances thrill under Yan Pascal Tortelier and the Pittsburgh Symphony.

Netrebko put together a potpourri showcasting her immense vocal gifts as well as her versatility.

Ballet National de España (BNE) celebrates its 40th anniversary with a vibrant gala that brings together old and new landmarks of its repertory. Madrid’s Teatro de la Zarzuela hosts the event.

Almost every June from 1989 to 1999, I visited the charming town of Feldkirch, in the Vorarlberg region of Western Austria, for the annual Schubertiade, originally founded in 1976 by the great German baritone Hermann Prey.

The Scottish Ensemble with guitarist Sean Shibe perform a thoughtful programme of ancient and modern Christmas-themed music in a candlelit St John’s Kirk.

Jane Archibald gave possibly the most dazzling account of Cunegonde's music that I’ve heard. 

A welcome revival of Christopher Hampson's imaginative reworking of this perennial fairy tale 

Outstanding vocal and orchestral performances light up La Scala's season opener, matched to a conservative but visually arresting staging from Davide Livermore.

Dorothea Röschmann has a soaring silvery line when needed (she is a famous Marschallin).

Two world premieres from Mark Bowden and Colin Matthews breath life into the Southbank's Queen Elizabeth Hall.

The Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich recently struck a perfect balance of emotive and restraint in music by Brahms, Bartók and Saint-Saëns.

Vivica Genaux enjoys huge success in a Melbourne concert of Baroque delights, the first venture of Sydney's Pinchgut Opera Company outside its home turf.

MTT was back in Los Angeles for another spell as guest, this time bringing to local audiences one of his specialties of the house. 

Jane Glover’s Cleveland Orchestra performance of Handel’s Messiah was both celebratory and historically-informed.

Rouvali's role with the Phiharmoniaas Principal Guest Conductor may prove to be one of the most exciting musical relationships in London, based on their remarkable performance of Eine Alpensinfonie that headlined an all-Strauss programme.

RLPO debutante Kahchun Wong makes a distinctive first impression in a programme of iconic works from the 20th century.

A mesmerising catalogue of the body’s uses and abuses in our society, Sasha Waltz & Guest presents Körper an old-time favourite at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele.

Pappano never put a foot wrong as he dug precious beauties from beneath his fingers.

Alena Baeva gets under the skin of Tchaikovsky's concerto in this outstanding concert. 

Theodor Currentzis and his musicAeterna bring blistering detail and revelatory playing to Wunderhorn-period Mahler, but it ultimately proves short on warmth. 

Enigmatic and uncanny piano music from Schubert in an intense recital at the Royal Festival Hall. 

A new production of La Traviata, colorful and conventional, brings little new ideas but is a fine vehicle for a fine performance conducted by Yannick Nezet-Seguin that features a trio of excellent singers.

What marks the start of Christmas? For many, it's when the Christmas tree magically grows in The Royal Ballet's Nutcracker...

A fresh take on timeless classics keeps the interest high in this concert featuring cellist Julian Schwarz and conductor JoAnn Falletta leading the Virginia Symphony Orchestra.

Opera Atelier presents a double bill at the Royal Opera in Versailles filled with Baroque dancing, scenery and music.

Devon Carney's fantasy-forward take on the holiday classic. 

Barrie Kosky's troubled production returns to Covent Garden

Chen plays a fine solo part in Bruch and delights with his encore; Orozco-Estrada and the LPO provide some good moments but fall short of their best form.

The 2018 installment of Sydney Dance Company's annual showcase for new choreographers, New Breed, brings four diverse and experimental works to the stage.

In the second instalment of his Strauss and Shostakovich exploration, Payare directs the Ulster Orchestra in two hugely contrasting works premiered in times of conflict.

Tinney delivers an intelligent, sensitive account of Beethoven's Piano concerto no. 5 while German conductor Alber stresses speed over subltety in Beethoven's Seventh Symphony.

Opera North's triumphant UK première production of Silent Night by Kevin Puts is directed at Leeds Town Hall by Tim Albery and conducted by Nicholas Kok.

In Germany, the Christmas Oratorio is performed with the same frequency during the holiday season as Messiah in English-speaking countries. In Boston, the BSO gives its first performance!

Fury, passion and loss from Martyn Brabbins and the BBCSO in an all-British programme. 

Charles Villiers Stanford's The Travelling Companion is performed at Cadogan Hall by New Sussex Opera. 

A gloriously romantic performance by Lars Vogt and Royal Northern Sinfonia of Brahms' First Piano Concerto, complemented by Beethoven and Schumann.

Jennifer Higdon's blue cathedral holds its own alongside more familiar American pieces by Adams and Barber plus the “New World” Symphony.

A HAU am Hebel’s production, Ligia Lewis’ Water Will (in Melody) is surely a raw and direct, disturbingly grotesque, beautifully poetic and unwittingly explicit journey to an unfortunately unknown destination.

Perhaps Pinchgut Opera's finest production to date, a brave presentation of a classic Baroque opera, little heard in Australia apart from Handel, benefits from the star presence of Vivca Genaux in splendid form.

Joyful, enthusiastic singing, dancing and music combined for a very entertaining The Merry Widow with delightfully cast lead roles.