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Tracing a line of musical heritage was what this concert was all about: the imaginative richness of inspiration that passed from Rimsky-Korsakov through early Rachmaninov to Stravinsky.

On the surface, this Verbier Festival program looked mild (Brahms and Beethoven), but in performance, it had the effect of dropping a lit match into a crate full of fireworks.

Age sometimes brings compensations: Mischa Maisky's total commitment to the Schumann concerto left Daniel Lozakovich out in the cold with Brahms. Meanwhile Klaus Mäkelä with the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra reins back Romantic feeling in Schumann's Second Symphony.

The world premiere of Gabriel Jackson’s ambitious but inert The World Imagined and a complacent Enigma Variations are outclassed by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s gorgeous Solemn Prelude at Worcester Cathedral.

The 19-year-old performs four masterpieces presented in chronological order and illustrating the evolution of the art of the keyboard from the mid-18th to the mid-20th century.

The Olympics is not the only big event that is taking place around Tokyo this summer. A large-scale festival of classical music, Festa Muza Summer, is currently being held at Muza Kawasaki Concert Hall.

When Alisa Weilerstein stepped on stage to play Joan Tower's new cello concerto during a Colorado thunderstorm, it was a case of three elemental powers conspiring to create.

The first fully staged American production of Chausson's sole opera features remarkable singing, fine storytelling and plush orchestral playing.

A risk-free, splendid musical feast for a summer festival, magnificently performed in Verbier's church.

The National Ballet of Japan's Ryuuguu: the Turtle Princess is a ballet aimed at family audiences but adults can also enjoy it as it is a great showcase for Japanese culture with Noh and Kabuki influences and philosophy. 

Fabio Ceresa applies his "Baroque divertissement" style to Haydn's oratorio The Creation, staged at the Festival della Valle d'Itria.

The world premiere of Hannah Lash's Forestallings, rooted in her childhood love of Beethoven's Second Symphony, links to Peter Oundjian's arrangement of the Op.131 string quartet later in the program. 

After solo Bach, Alessio Bax joins string players for the Italian's Brahmsian Piano Quintet in F minor.

In Verbier's Salle des Combins, despite the change of programme, Ambrogio Maestri and Maria Bayankina deliver stand-out performances. 

The Italian pianist's recital included Schubert Impromptus and rarely heard works by Beethoven and CPE Bach. 

Concerto and symphony – in reversal of the usual order – from the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons.

The Jette Parker Young Artists take on their most ambitious programme yet, showcasing some of the most promising Verdian voices of the future.

Bumble? Tinder? Who needs a dating app when you have Rabbi David setting up every singleton in sight. Opera Holland Park's new production of L'amico Fritz is a feel good rom-com that will warm the heart.

The world premiere of Eye Candy by Imre and Marne van Opstal, best known for their work at Nederlands Dans Theater, together with a livestream premiere of Marion Motin’s Rouge.  

The Estonian Festival Orchestra reunites under its founder at the eleventh edition of the Pärnu Music Festival. 

Ivor Bolton and Kit Hesketh-Harvey deliver a brilliant political thriller and anti-Putin polemic – at least for its first half.

Jennifer France stars in Stephen Barlow's staging of The Cunning Little Vixen, set in the perfect surroundings of Holland Park. 

Conductor Jane Glover capitalized on The Cleveland Orchestra’s affinity for Mozart in a Sunday evening concert at the Blossom Music Center, with the versatile pianist Conrad Tao.

Skride’s approach is not based on power, glamour or virtuosity but is anchored by poetic expressivity and tonal beauty

Nézet-Séguin and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe bring to a triumphant end their Beethoven cycle in Baden-Baden with coruscating performances of the Second and Third Symphonies.

Emanuel Ax joins Nelsons and the BSO for Beethoven's big fives to re-open live music at Tanglewood.

Brilliant singing from the Kiev Chamber Choir, but little light and shade in new works from Valentin Silvestrov

Vasily Petrenko's time as Chief Conductor of the Liverpool Philharmonic draws to a close with a celebratory evening of Shostakovich, Schreker and more.

Mozart's Clarinet Concerto started out naively impetuous, quick, breathless as if on the way to an assignation

They crept, slithered, swooped and buzzed in a compelling evening of virtuosic contemporary music

The slow movement is gorgeous in an unashamedly romantic fashion and Morrison, some moments of uncertain intonation aside, gave a poetic rendition, at times fining his sound down to the most exquisite filigree of sound. 

The Festival d'Aix-en-Provence gives us a definitive performance of Wagner's opera – but for listening only.

Baritone and pianist Thomas Oliemans demonstrated his love of the French chanson accompanied by the richly layered strings of the Amsterdam Sinfonietta.

New National Opera sucessfully  opened a world premiere production of Georges Bizet’s Carmen, directed by Spanish director Àlex Ollé, a production inspired by Amy Winehouse, a diva of today. 

Unimpeachable voices and fine playing light up The Royal Opera's latest revival of Kasper Holten's dark staging.

The elegance of the First Symphony served as a perfect curtain raiser for the mammoth, exultant Ninth.

One of the most appealing features of the concert was the friendly and casual nature with which these two young musicians presented a concert of relatively lesser-known works for cello and piano to a mostly young audience.

Lush visuals and appealing singing do not quite make up for a somewhat lacklustre revival of Nicholas Hytner's acclaimed 2006 production of Mozart's late comedy.

A highly successful Falstaff at the Archevêché in Aix-en-Provence, for our greater pleasure: a true lesson in joy in a world where, we are told, all is but a joke.

A great chamber music experience, at the end of one of music’s most challenging years.

The real sensation of the evening was Alex Esposito – this time, Gounod's Faust should have been titled Méphistophélès...

Christophe Gayral gives Vivaldi's Farnace a contemporary update at the Teatro Malibran, but there are musical compensations. 

Martha Argerich is one of the musical miracles of our times. Like exquisite wine, she seems to gain depth and new qualities with maturity.

A combination of Western orchestral tradition and traditional Māori culture proves a fascinating and a worthwhile contribution to New Zealand’s orchestral repertoire.

Garsington Opera's new production of Rossini's comic masterpiece is a bawdy hoot, but humour aside it features an ensemble who provide first-class bel canto singing.

As the UK continues to emerge from lockdown, Leeds Playhouse and Opera North stage Sondheim. 

A collaborative performance of Mozart's Sonata for two pianos was not broadcast, but Pires stanched any disappoint by offering refined interpretations of Schubert.

The premiere of Saad Haddad's Second String Quartet survives the downpour, the centrepiece of the Callistos’ recital in Caramoor’s Venetian Theater.

Martha Argerich gives a rare solo performance in the final programme of her festival, performing movements from Tchaikovsky's The Seasons for the very first time.