Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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. 

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

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. 

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.

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

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. 

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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. 

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. 

José Cura shines as a designer but brings surprisingly little staging expertise to his latest directorial effort.

Instead of telling a story of spiritual enlightenment and ultimate redemption through faith, Pierre Audi's reading is bereft of mystery and magic.

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

This was a superbly assured performance in which Esa-Pekka Salonen marshalled his forces with a clear-sighted vision to carve out an account brimming with intensity, energy and commitment.

Tragedy turns to joy in an evening laden with expectations and emotion.

This solo performance is a touching, tender, and powerfully-told story of Australian Indigenous identity in northwest Australia's Kimberley region.

Britten's War Requiem at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden with Antonio Pappano conducting

Daisy Evans' take on Verdi's iconic tale of love stymied by the cruelty of others is characteristically innovative and insightful, while also blessed with a remarkable central performance from Anna Patalong. 

Olena Tokar's assured coloratura made an immediate success of the waltz with her convincingly adolescent appearance, rhythmic verve and stylish phrasing.

Everything Pite choreographs turns to gold and when Young is also involved it’s an especially rich vein.

Javier Camarena’s debut as Edgardo contributed to a triumphal night at the Teatro Real together with Lisette Oropesa’s charismatic Lucia and David Alden’s powerful staging.

It's hard to find anything not to admire in a thrillingly strong production of Britten's haunting chamber opera. 

A disappointing new production by David Marton at Opéra de Lyon. 

The imaginative baroque architecture of the Buontalenti Grotto in Palazzo Pitti Boboli Gardens is an inert background to the action in this reprise of one of the first operas.

Two charming operas featured splendid singing in a haze of choreography, staging and projections in a setting that had the feel of being live in a surround sound movie theater. 

Calixto Bieito sets Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea in a hedonist, decadent society whose citizens are defined by their egotism, ambition and sexual exploits.