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

Amongst the Giselles and the Nutcrackers that will grace Oslo Opera House’s Main Stage this season sits a vital slice of Norwegian history from two emerging choreographers, Elle Sofe Sara and Hlín Hjálmarsdóttir.

A dramatic staging of two Greek myths, Wayne McGregor’s Jocasta’s Line is an epic production for Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, a truly modern and totally original work.

The second programme of Norwegian National Ballet's Kylián festival, Day After Yesterday, features four older works, including Petite Mort and No More Play which are unquestionably highlights of his expansive repertoire.

The Wings of Time festival in Oslo this summer is the most comprehensive collection of Czech choreographer Jiří Kylián’s work ever presented. 

A brief but excellent programme of five duets showcased on the main stage of the Den Norske Opera.  

Premiered with Norwegian National Ballet in 2009, this Don Quixote is packed with high energy classical and character roles and is colourful and extravagant.

A Tale about Swan Lake ticks all the boxes as an introduction to ballet for young audiences while offering a version that adult lovers of the work can thoroughly enjoy.

Stigma is a monumental work, with a wealth of serious reflection on where we are as the human race on a fragile planet.

In their home concert hall under their Chief Conductor, the Oslo Philharmonic produce a high quality performance of Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony.

A first rate account of George Balanchine's Jewels from exquisite dancing and music, to tremendous staging.

Norwegian National Ballet's highly entertaining double bill of two of Mats Ek's most popular works is enthralling.

Strømgren’s choreography is remarkably eloquent with emotionally charged movement in a fast-paced performance with a serious message.

Totally riveting, in Still Life the dancers move in ways that are thought-provoking and eloquent, underpinning the message that to be human is to be at one with nature.

Marit Moum Aune has completed the third production in her Ibsen trilogy and in The Wild Duck she has, together with Norwegian National Ballet, another big success.

An adventurous triple bill of vintage works new to Norway. 

Norwegian National Ballet return to the classics with surprising ease.

A spotlight on human connection in a world increasingly devoid of empathy.

Six talented finalists light up the final of the prestigious Norwegian singing competition

Closer to Matthew Bourne than Marius Petipa, Christian Spuck's Sleeping Beauty is full of invention, captivating the audience in numerous, unexpected ways.

Leif Ove Andsnes joins the Oslo Philharmonic in dynamic Rachmaninov before high-energy Shostakovich closes the season.

Powerful and thoroughly absorbing living art. 

Dead air swallows the acoustic, so it’s no wonder this orchestra and choir is busy raising funds to build its own concert hall in Oslo.

Norwegian National Ballet opened its new run of Natalia Makarova’s staging, with Whitney Jensen and Lania Atkins making outstanding impressions as Nikiya and Gamzatti. 

Chrisoph Loy's new Oslo production of Eugene Onegin only somewhat succeeds in its desire to create a meditation on loneliness, but superb musical performances still make it an utterly compelling piece of music theatre.

Vasily Petrenko and the Oslo Philharmonic's Mahler Nine seemed unaware of what it wanted to be, resulting in a frustratingly directionless, disjointed concert.

Ralph Vaughan Williams' towering A Sea Symphony and the orchestra of the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet capped off the Oslo opera season in a singularly loud fashion. 

Despite some dramatic frustrations, at least in Oslo, Jones' production is saved by some truly outstanding singing.

After a shaky start with Metamorphosen, the Oslo Philharmonic embodies the evening's theme of transformation by ending on a stonker of a Petruskha, via the perenially fabulous Lise Davidsen.

The first staging of Bellini's Norma in Oslo in over a century is unfortunately hampered by an irritating production, yet some glorious singing does much to rescue the show.

Beautiful, yet uninspired playing resulted in an underwhelming start to the New Year from the Oslo Philharmonic.

Christoph Loy's Oslo production of Wozzeck is a dramatic triumph, with gripping performances from a cast led by Audun Iversen's desperate title character.

François de Carpentries' Oslo production of The Barber of Seville was both unfunny and underwhelming. 

Playing music by Copland, Hovland and Sibelius, the Oslo Philharmonic and Dalia Stasevska gave exciting performances, even though the quality of the music did not always match.

Calixto Bieito's Tosca, despite an intriguingly modern setting, fails to make sparks fly.

Despite some very creditable orchestral playing, conductor Joshua Weilerstein never quite got anywhere with his programme of Bach, Weill and Brahms.

Paired with some overly serious Mahler, Eivind Buene's melodrama Blue Mountain did not quite convince, its ironic self-awareness getting in the way of itself.

After over a century, Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande finally received its Norwegian première in a fascinating production by Barbora Horáková Joly.

The Oslo Philharmonic was left to tell the story due to some rather emotionless singing.

John Butt and the Dunedin Consort closed the Oslo Church Music Festival with fine performances of CPE Bach and Mozart, even though the concert didn't prove quite as innovative as advertised.

Despite the home advantage, the orchestra played it safe, but there was wholesome folky fun to be had with Halvorsen and Tveitt.

The Balthasar-Neumann-Chor and Ensemble performed a deeply moving, if slightly uneven, St John Passion, setting off the Oslo Church Music Festival.

The storm prevailed under Stefan Solyom – perhaps inevitable with Shostakovich – but quieter moments in the Strauss were beautifully handled by Lise Davidsen.

The Oslo Philharmonic played finely tuned Gabrieli and virtuosic Bach, finishing with a surprisingly sinister performance of Mahler's Fourth Symphony.

The revival of Calixto Bieito's Carmen in Oslo proves a bumpy ride, with uneven singing and orchestral playing, saved by Katarina Bradić's captivating portrayal of the title heroine.

With his first foray into Rossini, Norwegian director Stefan Herheim turns La Cenerentola into a brilliantly funny spectacle, filled with thought provoking humour and outstanding singing.

Conductor Han-Na Chang and the Oslo Philharmonic impressed with a fiercely fast overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila and an exciting new piece by Norwegian composer Jan Erik Mikalsen.

Despite occasionally brilliant singing, the Norwegian National Opera fails to raise seasonal spirits with a dramatically inert Cavalleria rusticana and a shaky Pagliacci.

Strauss' great tone poem whirls around the auditorium in a short but sweet concert.

Music by the unhappy couple precedes a bombastic rendition of Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass by the Oslo Philharmonic orchestra and choir under Jukka-Pekka Saraste.