Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews

Stephen Gould is less than convincing in the lead role of Tannhäuser, but excellent ensemble work under Ádám Fischer's inspired direction offers compensations.

As part of the annual Wagner festival in the Hungarian capital, Peter Seiffert and Allison Oakes star as the doomed lovers.

A committed cast make this  a beautifully performed ensemble piece in which the tragedy of young love cut short by untimely disease is compellingly put across.

Bruno Ravella's fast-paced Falstaff for Garsington still has crucial space for pathos amid the comedy, with a notably subtle central performance from Henry Waddington.  

Shostakovich's early masterpiece is fêted at the Komische Oper Berlin

Dark Emu is a beautifully choreographed dance response to Bruce Pascoe's award-winning book.  In combining current debate with millenia-old living tradition, it is both topical and profoundly poetic.

...the perpetuum mobile character building to a raucously joyous finale that elicited genuine, generous applause.

It is good to see Birmingham Royal Ballet in such fine fettle. This triple bill is well conceived and deftly performed. Not always flawless in its execution, but a five star programme nonetheless.

Opening this short Saison Russe in Berlin is Boris Eifman’s most iconic ballet, Red Giselle, a skilful tribute of the choreographer to the great Russian ballerina Olga Spessivtseva.

A long four-movement concerto and a long symphonic work by two close musical friends, given by Pablo Heras-Casado, Francesco Piemontesi and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester.

The William Tell Overture promises much, Grieg and Tchaikovsky are well played but struggle to escape the routine.

Alisa Weilerstein delivered an amazingly raw performance of Shostakovich’s Second Cello Concerto, whereas Ilan Volkov and the CBSO’s renditions of Simon Holt and Brahms (reimagined by Schoenberg) proved alienating and overblown.

With a glinting voice of a youthful sheen, like bracing Nordic air, Kirstin Sharpin was entirely convincing as the obsessed dreamer, Senta.

Sasha Mukhamedov, James Stout and their fellow dancers succeed to drag us off to a romantic tragedy on the British isles on a June evening.

Composer-pianist, Vestards Shimkus gives a compelling rendition of his imaginative 9 etudes Dreamscapes, while his Bach-Busoni 9 Chorale Preludes offers more mixed results. 

Like meeting the near-identical twin of that much-loved friend: BRB's fine performance of their unique take on Kenneth MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet 

A mix of new and tried and tested works by Karole Armitage, Jacqulyn Buglisi, Carolyn Dorfman and Jennifer Muller

The Belcea Quartet gave us bleak despair in their Shostakovich, but joined by Antoine Tamestit, they also gave us joyful Mozart and life-affirming Brahms.

The Latvian Radio Choir, coupled with the Sinfonietta Rīga Orchestra under the conductor Sigvards Kļava give an ethereal rendition of four contemporary Latvian composers in Riga Cathedral.

The overall quality of Emerging Dancer continues an upwards trajectory from year-to-year and presents a very enjoyable gala of classical ballet and contemporary dance 

This concert, with a running time of about two hours, was a lovely dip in the Rhine without the usual four-to-five hour Wagnerian full immersion.

An intimate setting for the 18th-century work do from hell.

A wonderful showcase of operatic voices at the 37th International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition in Latvia. 

Interviewed at the time of this production's first outing, McVicar declared that “Entertainment is not a dirty word”. His Giulio Cesare remains a hugely entertaining opera production.

A concert performance of Arianna in Creta at the Halle Handel Festival riveted the audience with the towering talent of Ann Hallenberg and uniformly fine singing, acting and playing.

The Rotterdam Philharmonic marked their centenary with two concerts starring mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato. A bittersweet weekend, during which they also took leave of their beloved principal conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Lars Vogt and Royal Northern Sinfonia deliver Beethoven's Symphony no. 9 with swaggering self-confidence, and heroic chorus singing.

Grange Park Opera’s enjoyable new production of Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera looks a little homespun on stage, but has plenty of musical compensations.

The New Zealander Heldentenor makes a welcome return to Auckland for Wagner's erotic song cycle. 

From the stately front of The Grange, an impressive moustache looms large, welcoming the audience to a production of Rossini's masterpiece that baffles, confuses and delights the audience.

In the climax of the season at Bridgewater Hall, the BBC Philharmonic bid a fond farewell to Juanjo Mena in an evening that blew off your sombrero. 

Max Emanuel Cenčić with Armonia Atenea under George Petrou provide an exciting and satisfying concert at the Halle Handel Festival

The battle of the choirs is a thrilling moment in just about any performance of Dutchman, but produces shock and awe in the live acoustics of Budapest's Bartok Bela Concert Hall.

A gorgeous programme of Wagner, Strauss and Schoenberg and fragments in sextet arrangements

A fine Planets from Eiji Oue and the Belgrade Philharmonic crowned a splendid concert despite a flawed “Neptune” after Simone Rubino had explored the music of the Earth.

A taste of the opening weekend in Leipzig’s marathon Bach Festival. 

A resounding success at its 1709 première, Handel’s Agrippina gripped the ear and dazzled the eye at the Grange Festival in a hugely entertaining and powerful performance.

Ballet Black delights the Glasgow Tramway with a contrasting double-bill of Shakespearian envy and whimsy.

Cuerteto Casals delivers audience the gems of Beethoven String Quartets at their full potential at Suntory Hall Blue Rose Hall. 

Emily Howard's new opera, an Aldeburgh Festival commission, takes an ambitiously modernist approach to a dystopian story of loneliness: a tough, but thought-provoking work. 

Willy Decker's enduring production gets smart treatment in a handsome revival.

Robert Spano led the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra closed out its regular season with a thrilling Scheherezade.

It’s the end of the 17/18 season for most ballet companies and for many, this means rounding off with a glitzy gala night. I feel these performances always go in one of two directions: they’re either a Greatest Hits or a bit of a patchwork quilt. 

Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu stages Puccini’s first great success as an operatic composer, Manon Lescaut with the stage direction of Davide Livermore. 

David Alden’s new production for The Royal Opera, referencing fascist Germany, is drab, but there are musical compensations. 

Andrew Manze conducted the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in two English choral pieces; Stephen Hough brought a fitting conclusion to his Beethoven concerto cycle as artist-in-residence. 

The bond between Dohnányi and his old orchestra remains strong. 

A dutiful revival of Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Sleeping Beauty from English National Ballet.

A showcase of Jörg Widmann’s talents as composer, conductor and clarinettist in works by Mozart, Weber and himself

Classical Opera’s performance of one of Mozart’s earliest operas throbbed with youthful energy; a strong cast brought the humour to life and made up for any weakness in the score.