Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews

Dismembered after the 1840 bankruptcy of its promoter, Opera Rara's decade-long reconstruction has resulted in a beautifully constructed opera that's enjoyable throughout.

A spirited and seamless production of Strauss’s Ariadne is aided by some excellent singing and playing at London’s premier summer opera festival.

Astonishing virtuosity for the clarinet along with one of the great wartime symphonies ensured a fascinating evening at the 2018 Proms.

A strong platform for Caroline Shaw's abundantly inventive writing, followed by joyous and commanding Schumann from the Calidore String Quartet and Javier Perianes to launch the Proms at... Cadogan Hall season.   (Note: Please add First Essay: 'Nimrod' by Shaw to the programme list)

With a smaller programme and a humbler premise, the stars of the show – those young, immensely talented performers – could have shone even brighter

Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic unleash the darkness of Verdi’s late masterpiece Otello upon the picnickers at the Hollywood Bowl. 

Under the baton of John Storgårds, Vilde Frang made her Cleveland Orchestra debut in Britten's Violin Concerto, with works of Antheil and Schumann rounding out a diverse selection.

Muti unlocks the immense dramatic potential of Verdi's revolutionary score, providing a wealth of colour and detail capable of conjuring mysterious Shakespearean worlds with no need for staging.

A trusty and convincing version of the masterpiece, with a cast of well-matched singers.

Under Andris Nelsons' baton, the musical canvas was remarkably supple with proper light shed on Puccini’s melodic inventiveness and wondrous orchestration.

Polished but ultimately tepid performances that kept the emotional temperature under wraps despite some fine individual playing and singing.

Petrenko's Puccini is bracingly alert, filled with colour and has a romantic sweep that is utterly transporting.

An embarrassingly trite libretto proves unsalvageable, even with a committed cast of singers.

Marking the centenary of the end of the First World War, Anna Meredith and 59 Productions' work proves a powerful, often surprisingly upbeat, commission.

Jürgen Flimm bowed out of his role as Intendant of the Berlin State Opera with the German premiere of Salvatore Sciarrino's Ti vedo, ti sento, mi perdo.

As part of the annual Schubertiade festival, clarinettist Martin Fröst and pianist Roland Pöntinin recently gave an unforgettable recital.

Ariadne auf Naxos shines in an ultra-contemporary world of high net worth tantrums at Longborough Festival Opera, complete with glam rock fairies, giant string, and glorious music. 

After a number of eccentric stagings, Mario Pontiggia's traditional production is a hit in Naples. 

There’s no doubt that Mélisande endeavours to escape past troubles when she first appears in Barrie Kosky’s production of Debussy’s opera, yet Nadja Mchantaf is no reticent, wispy maiden. Every vocal and physical gesture – always precise and penetrating – displays an atypically forthright quest for vitality, something that Arkel’s chauvinistic world does not readily offer.

Auguin conducted as if he really believes in this evergreen work, which was wonderful to hear in the composer’s rather overlooked anniversary year.

An accomplished performance by the renowned Belcea Quartet marked the first of the summer’s “Serenade” concerts, an open-air series held in the park of the historic Villa Schönberg. 

Spanning a compositional date range of approximately 50 years, Francois-Xavier Roth and his well-drilled Gurzenich delivered a highly enjoyable evening of music by Mendelssohn, Mozart and Beethoven.

Franz Schreker’s Die Gezeichneten (The Branded One) is an unsettling work given the storyline’s background of abduction and clandestine sexual abuse. Calixto Bieito, as expected, eschews ambiguity regarding what goes on behind the scenes, and casts even the titular cripple Alviano Salvago in a damning light.

This was more stadium rock than stuffy opera house, lighting as ‘metaphor made real’ as the lovers were – literally – star-struck, blinded by love.

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

Sir Bryn Terfel’s Falstaff is still a cherishable rogue as he takes on the title role in Robert Carsen’s joyous staging at the Royal Opera. 

There is a reason that Butterfly has the highest blub factor in the repertory, for it is not only for Cio-Cio-San that we weep, but for ourselves. 

Stephen Medcalf directs a coherent staging of Mozart’s opera seria in which Idomeneo’s inner demons are to be battled. 

Those concertgoers who tore themselves away from the beach could watch the glorious sunlight fade to dusk through the Bantry House Library's huge windows.

Prokofiev juxtaposed with Debussy and Berg in Steven Osborne's latest Wigmore Hall recital. 

A spirited account of Verdi's early opera in its first professional UK staging, nowhere near as “ugly” as Verdi would have had us believe. 

McBurney's brilliant stagecraft brings child-like wonderment to the most hardened adults; his interpretation and Raphaël Pichon's conducting exude Mozartian rightness.

With a stunningly inventive and modern-sounding score, strong acting performances and a staging full of theatrical illusion and coherent in spite of general weirdness, Aix's Fiery Angel impresses.

Parisian choral works by Fauré, Dupré and Duruflé performed by candle (and electric) light in Cheltenham College Chapel.

Tough, thrilling, ambitious and new: The Skating Rink is an exciting new major commission by Garsington, and its world première delivered on every level.

Sir András Schiff and the OAE serve up three delectable dishes created by the irrespressible and inimitable Papa Haydn.

Another masterful, sprightly and unstuffily fun production of Handel at Iford: Christopher Cowell's Partenope is erotically charged, well cast and comically compelling. 

Lise Davidsen and Sabine Devieilhe produce soprano heaven in their contrasting vocal styles. Katie Mitchell’s staging feels disappointingly familiar.

Nevill Holt Opera and Royal Northern Sinfonia offer a sumptuous production, with gorgeous singing, but one unafraid to make us confront the uncomfortable aspects of the plot.

Shechter is back to his finest form with this Waltz for the End of Time.

The Apollon Musagète Quartet captures the imaginative world of Panufnik, while Nurit and Pescia deliver a searingly intense Bloch Violin Sonata no. 1.  

Diego Fasolis gives an enlightened, 18th-century account of the Mozart/da Ponte masterpiece, with great precision and elegance.

Stefan Herheim's dreamlike production of Debussy's opera sets it squarely in the Sussex manor house that gave birth to Glyndebourne's festival. 

Quartet Dudok perform life-affirming Mozart while Apollon Musagète Quartet give an effective rendition of Panufnik. Quatuor Danel deliver a tour de force of Beethoven's “Razumovsky” String Quartet no. 2.

Yoncheva passed the test in style, providing a scintillating delivery that drew feverish approval from the public.

A terrific cast takes on the latest revival of Kasper Holten’s video-infused staging of Mozart’s opera buffa.

Two contemporary operas give us darkness and death in riveting, inexorable performances. 

Michael Tilson Thomas, Sasha Cooke, and choristers from the Pacific Boychoir and San Francisco Chorus come together in a phenomenal performance of Mahler's all-encompassing Third Symphony. 

An energetic Kodály and a convincing Bacewicz String Quartet no. 4 made for a satisfying first half, while the Quatuor Danel delivered a wonderful rendition of Beethoven’s Op.59 no. 1. 

With her signature role’s coloratura fireworks and dramatic nuance, Jessica Pratt’s Sydney Opera House debut is one to remember.