Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Mark Pullinger

Extra time and penalties beckon as Julia Lezhneva displays rapidfire coloratura and endless stamina in an evening capped with seven encores. 

Slow movements prove the highlights of the latest instalment of the Quatuor Ébène’s Beethoven cycle. What would Elgar and August “Nimrod” Jaeger have thought?

The revered Anthony Negus conducts a superb revival of Carmen Jakobi’s abstract production of Wagner’s transcendent drama at Longborough Festival Opera.

The role of Elvira in Bellini’s I puritani contains the most challenging mad scenes in all opera, but soprano Lisette Oropesa dazzles on the opening night of Richard Jones’ new production.

The Armenian soprano makes her Grange Festival debut – a casting coup that proves the single most compelling reason to see Max Webster’s new production.

A recreation of the final concert attended by Johannes Brahms marks the closing programme of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment's 40th season. 

Stephanie Childress conducts Sinfonia Smith Square in a Mahler First Symphony with a difference, “semi-staged” by Tom Morris, with both musicians and audience on the move.

Despite excellent vocal performances, David Alden’s production of Giulio Cesare in Egitto aims at irreverence but overplays the comedy.

Amy Lane directs an intimate staging of Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s 2018 chamber opera in the compact Milton Court Theatre. 

The young Spanish violinist proves an ardent advocate for a work originally dismissed as a “Hollywood Concerto” as the BBC Symphony Orchestra closes its Barbican season.

Sunday morning Mahler at the Wiener Konzerthaus sees Andris Nelsons concluding his symphony cycle with the Vienna Philharmonic in shattering fashion. 

Mark Ravenhill directs a brutal, bloody Salome at the spiritual home of British boxing, York Hall. 

At the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Rafael R Villalobos addresses the problems he perceives with Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera, although the musical performances – led by Anna Netrebko – compensate.

Patricia Nolz makes an outstanding role debut as Christian Thielemann conducts a thrusting Rosenkavalier to open the Staatsoper Unter den Linden's Festtage. 

Opha Phelan’s staging presents the action as a grand, Freudian social experiment. It’s a risk – but the production is lifted by outstanding performances from the cast and the Academy of Ancient Music.

Trouser – and toga – roles abound at Wigmore Hall as French mezzo-soprano Marianne Crebassa debuts with The Mozartists in arias from four key Mozart roles. 

Seong-Jin Cho continues his Artist Portrait series with the LSO by performing Chopin's poetic Second Piano Concerto. 

Alexandra Dovgan plays piano concertos by Clara and Robert Schumann at the Konzerthaus, but it's the Kammerorchester Basel's performance of a forgotten symphony which most impresses. 

With a trio of excellent performances, Balanchine's sassy Rubies proves the hit as Jewels – a relatively recent acquisition – returns to the Wiener Staatsballett. 

A double-header celebrates Schubert featuring Allan Clayton and Paul Lewis in Winterreise and the Austrian folk/rock band The Erllkings.

The second revival of Richard Jones' staging of Mussorgsky's original 1869 version of Boris Godunov once again stars the Welsh knight. 

Agony, ecstasy and a double murder: Bill Barclay and The Gesualdo Six combine for a theatrical concert celebrating the life – and death – of the Renaissance composer.

The Japanese pianist’s Mozart is highly regarded, but how would he fair in a programme ranging from Beethoven to Brahms, culminating in Liszt's greatest Wagnerian transcription?

Leif Ove Andsnes joins the Vienna Symphony in the Musikverein's Golden Hall for a glowing account of Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto before a terrific Tod und Verklärung. 

Returning for its first anniversary, Arielle Smith and Aaron S Watkin’s Nutcracker for English National Ballet remains a feast for hungry eyes, despite its flaws. 

Even without a gingerbread house, there’s enough wickedness in Richard Jones’ staging of Humperdinck’s opera for sweet tooths to savour.

Manuel Renga’s sensitive framing device sets up a sympathetic production of a problematic opera, but is scuppered by the central vocal performance.

Il campanello and Deux Hommes et une femme bomb at the Donizetti Opera festival, but the young singers of the Bottega Donizetti – and wily old hand Alessandro Corbelli – impress.

Francesco Micheli reimagines Caterina Cornaro in a contemporary setting, switching to the historical past, to open this year’s Donizetti Opera festival in the composer’s home town.

The first new production of Alessandra Ferri’s directorship of the Wiener Staatsballett sees the European premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s narrative ballet Of Love and Rage under its new title, Callirhoe.

It may be on its 663rd outing, but Margarethe Wallmann's Tosca is a classic for a reason, as proved in this outstanding performance at the Wiener Staatsoper. 

John Wilson brings his Sinfonia of London to the BBC Proms to crown the Ravel 150 celebrations with a glowing performance of his hedonistic symphonie chorégraphique.

Born to a Basque mother just ten miles from the Spanish border, Ravel excelled at authentic Spanish flavours as heard in this splendid festival concert by the Orchestre National de France.

Don Quixote provides the inspiration for songs by Ravel and Ibert, the high point of a bitty programme in contrast to an early evening recital which followed the perfect trajectory.

At the Festival Ravel, Bertrand Chamayou, Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Hyunji Kim perform all the solo piano works at the Église Saint-Vincent, a stone’s throw from the house where Ravel was born.

Between gigs at Wembley as Coldplay’s support act, the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra brings its distinctive brand of infectious music-making to the Southbank.

Tchaikovsky stipulated that a staging of Eugene Onegin need not be lavish but should be kept in period. He would have been satisfied with the results here.

The Swedish clarinettist pays tribute to two jazz legends in Joshua Weilerstein's programme that includes Proms debutante, Elsa Barraine, and Rachmaninov.

Richard Jones' 2009 production returns to Glyndebourne after a long absence, but the 1940s comedy scrubs up fresh. 

After 45 years, Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet returns to Buxton in a gripping, psychological staging by Jack Furness. 

Even locked behind a music stand, like a caged panther in a sleek black gown, Grigorian’s Salome bristles with dramatic energy in Barbican concert performance of Strauss’ “scherzo with a fatal conclusion”. 

Pet Halmen’s 2003 production of Puccini's unfinished final opera places asks more riddles than Turandot's quiz questions to her would-be suitors. 

Olavinlinna, also known as St Olaf's Castle, provides an atmospheric setting for Verdi's take on Shakespeare's “Scottish play”. 

Sir David Pountney's 1997 staging for Welsh National Opera is given a welcome new lease of life at Grange Park Opera, splendidly cast... with one major exception. 

The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Dinis Sousa bravely venture into Elgar at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, with mixed success.

Natalia Osipova, a seasoned Tatiana, is joined by Lukas B Brændsrød, making his debut as Onegin in the summer return of John Cranko's take on Pushkin's classic verse novel. 

Longborough Festival Opera, built on Wagnerian foundations, stages the UK premiere of Avner Dorman’s ambitious cautionary tale about the Wagner clan and establishing the composer’s legacy. 

Two notable debuts dominate Oper Leipzig's notable Lady Macbeth revival: Kristine Opolais as Katerina and Andris Nelsons in the pit. 

The combined forces of the Gewandhaus and Boston Symphony unite under Andris Nelsons for a searing Leningrad Symphony, while the Quatuor Danel tackles the string quartets. 

Carlos Acosta devises a programme of Ballets Russes highlights to celebrate Serge Diaghilev and to showcase the young dancers of Birmingham Royal Ballet’s junior company, BRB2.