Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews

Poetry infuses Tamara Rojo’s every step as Giselle in Akram Khan contemporary update of a ballet classic. 

Lars Vogt takes to the stage of Hall One at Sage Gateshead for some impromptu keyboard practice.

New Zealand Opera continues to strongly advocate Czech works, resulting in a gripping Káťa Kabanová.

The LSO’s pedigree in Berlioz is second to none so La Damnation de Faust acted as the perfect showcase in its “This is Rattle” festival. 

Ian Page's new ensemble kicked off with a feisty performance of Mozart's Symphony No. 29 and Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra with two splendid arias sung by Louise Alder.

Vladimir Jurowski is fond of grand statements, and sometimes off-the-wall programming – genius when it works, baffling when it doesn’t. 

Mozart was supposed to be the composer of La clemenza di Tito but it was really a critical edition of Metastasio’s opus by Teodor Currentzis.

This Tosca had many good things in it but was ultimately over-intellectuallised and uninvolving

Hip-h'opera world première at Philadelphia's O17 Festival.

Disparaged by critics and his fellow musicians, Tchaikovsky's The Maid of Orléans is performed by Odyssey Opera. 

Charles Edwards and Annabel Arden direct Leoncavallo's Pagliacci and Ravel's L'Enfant et les sortilèges in a contrasting pairing of two short operas in Opera North's 'Little Greats' season.

A newly-orchestrated version of Jonathan Dove’s chamber opera drew some impressive performances from Heritage Opera in this pared-down adaption of Jane Austen’s third novel.

The Teatro Real opened its 200th anniversary season with a revival of Claus Guth's brilliant production and a great cast, led by Kurt Streit and Silvia Tro Santafé.

Verdi voices that make one sit up and listen made this a memorable matinee.

As generations of dancers move on and off the stage, working hard for their very short lived moment in the spotlight, we can rest assured that there will be many classic Van Manen pieces in the repertoire for them to dance.

Mozart meets the movies as 1927's wacky production comes to Opera Philadelphia. 

While Dvořák’s Eighth Symphony failed to gel, the German soprano's Mozart turned the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra’s first concert of the season into a real celebration.

Simon Rattle returns to the UK in a (self-)portrait concert with the London Symphony Orchestra showcasing contemporary music

An all-Russian programme of favourite works opens the Hallé’s 160th season.  

His gestures might not be the most elegant, but Vladimir Askenazy has a deep understanding of the music he choses to conduct.

Sibelius' Kalevala-inspired epic is given the full treatment by the Orphei Drängar choir and the Gothenburg Symphony in Santtu-Matias Rouvali's inaugural concert as Chief Conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony.

In Thomas Guthrie’s revival of Sir David McVicar’s sober 2003 production of Mozart’s Singspiel, it was the pantomime elements of the show which registered strongly.

Puts’ and Campbell’s fast and furious neo-Victorians launch Philadelphia’s Annual Opera Festival.

Elena Langer's gorgeous and tongue-in-cheek Figaro Gets a Divorce shines in Geneva, despite David Pountney's boxy libretto. 

Emilio Sagi’s brightly lit but simplistic staging of Il viaggio a Reims moves the action from northern France to a sunny spa hotel in warmer climes.

A thought-provoking production and killer cast make San Francisco Opera's Elektra top-notch music drama.

San Francisco Opera's Turandot is a feast for the eyes and ears, but the drama falls flat.

Athletic (modern) classics combined with playful Hans van Manen and romantic Kuindersma make for a great evening. Elisa Badenes and Anna Ol are superb.

Director Davide Livermore updates the plot to the period of the Russian Revolution, October 1917, a far echo of that turning point in 1403 when the Ottoman sultan Bajazet was defeated by the Tartar Timburlaine.

Few other pianists have Argerich’s naturalness, her ability to epitomize the essence of music rather than interpret it. 

Conductor Tomáš Netopil combines the best of two worlds at the Dvořákʼs Prague festival.

The first programme of Nicolas Altstaedt and Aleksandar Madžar for their tour around Australia offered an insightful selection of 20th-century chamber music masterpieces.

After his affectionate treatment of La fanciulla del West for ENO and his devastating Suor Angelica for the Royal Opera, Richard Jones’ new La bohème is disappointingly bland.

A concert at the Andrzej Markowski International Wratislavia Cantans Festival that was anything but traditional or predictable.

An able cast sings in Christof Loy’s non-interventionist and insightful production of Verdi’s panoramic tragedy, conducted with vivid detail by Michele Mariotti.

The big heart and generous melodies of Ferenc Erkel's fine opera shine through in difficult circumstances in Atilla Vidnyánszky semi-abstract new staging at the Erkel Theatre.

Jean Tubéry’s virtuosity as a maestro di cornetto made up for disappointing vocalism in Monteverdi’s Vesperis in Festis Beata Mariae Vergine

Francesca Zambello’s engaging Aida opened the season at Washington National Opera, eventually getting into its stride. 

The aesthetic delights of the Vienna Philharmonic fail to enliven its Beethoven.

Yuja Wang joins Jaap van Zweden and the Hong Kong Philharmonic for Beethoven's Second Piano Concerto. 

The Dvořákʼs Prague Festival opens with an upbeat treatment of one of the composer's masterworks.

Andras Schiff returned to the Proms for a late night recital of JS Bach's Well Tempered Clavier, Book I. His execution was masterly and this master pianist's reputation as a standard bearer of this music was upheld beyond doubt.

The Vienna Philharmonic show themselves to be much more than a straight romantic band; individual musicianship shines through Mahler's tragic Sixth.

Bechtolf's seductively imaginative staging consists in a flat pack fairytale world full of surprises that delight like the contents of a pop up book.

Alina Ibragimova plays with skill but insufficient sound to fill the Royal Albert Hall; Vladimir Jurowski and the LPO blow the roof off with Shostakovich's account of the Revolution of 1905.

The LCO and Actress present tantalizing textures, while new works of placid emotion envelop the senses.

A Tchaikovsky and Dvorak programme at the Lucerne festival featured star violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter. 

Whenever a relative opera novice or occasional toe-dipper tells me how he or she cried at the end of La bohème, I want to send them to La fanciulla del West. Of course I choke up at the end of Bohème – who doesn't? – but for a good bawling session, the fabulously maudlin finale of Fanciulla is the place to be. The plot doesn't bode well.

Following some rhythmically challenged Ginastera, Horia Andreescu and the Russian National Orchestra impress with confidently played MacMillan and Tchaikovsky.

Prom 70, the last concert for the BBC Symphony Orchestra prior to the Last Night festivities, featured three talented Americans: composer Missy Mazzoli, pianist Jeremy Denk and conductor Karina Canellakis.