Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Strauss R.

Conductor Riccardo Chailly launched this year's Lucerne Festival with a riveting programme of three late 19th century works by the great orchestral explorer, Richard Strauss.

Kirill Karabits and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra brought a wide ranging programme from the south coast for their annual Proms visit.

In a concert of two halves, Worcester Cathedral experiences unforgettable pain and pleasure in works by Strauss, Rasch and Janáček.

We anticipated a Ukrainian barihunk singing Tchaikovsky, but ended up with an English rose singing Strauss.

High wire Beethoven from Nicolas Collon and the Aurora Orchestra, truly live in every sense, with an entertaining deconstructed introduction from Collon with Tom Service.

There were piano arpeggios that could have come from the pen of no other composer

Like most honest listeners I crave a taste of turpitude in Salome.

A musical performance of stunning quality underpins this revival of Krzysztof Warlikowski's lavish, ambiguous Strauss staging.

Mark Ryden's design for Whipped Cream is a masterpiece that elevates this work immeasurably.

A superlative cast and perceptive staging make for a gripping revival of Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos at the Glyndebourne Festival.

The Staatsorchester Darmstadt under Will Humburg performed three mightly works for large orchestra to bring its season to a close: Kurtág's Stele, Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra and Stravinsky's Rite of Spring.

Outstanding solos, orchestral discipline and novelties in musical arrangement made for another quality symphonic experience from the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

A thrilling finale to the 2017 Cardiff Singer of the World

In a state of almost child-like transfiguration and fulfilment, Strid's voice fully encompassed the extremes of the last scene.

Evgeni Bozhanov marks his Liverpool début with the RLPO under the watchful eye of conductor Marzena Diakun. 

The Seattle Symphony's all-Strauss program included a refreshing take on the Four Last Songs with soprano Gun-Brit Barkman and a sonic tour de force in the rare Eine Alpensinfonie.

In an elegant new production by Ivo van Hove, Malin Byström portrays a graceful, erotic Salome and the RCO play with sensuous lyricism under Daniele Gatti.

Gloriously sung and stylishly played, this Rosenkavalier is a feast for the ears and eyes and should be heard without delay. 

Juraj Valčuha’s CSO debut was an evening of diverse repertoire, from Haydn to Strauss (both Johann II and Richard) to Szymanowski, the latter featuring a memorable performance by Christian Tetzlaff.

Most music Festivals only have to deal with demanding divas, mercurial maestros or bad weather. In Istanbul there is a lot more at stake.

Fabien Gabel and the Orchestre Symphonique de Quebec present inventive and colorful musical pictures by Schmitt, El-Khoury, Honegger, Zappa and Richard Strauss.

With barely time for coffee and baklava after the Orchestre Pasdeloup's Arabian matinee, I stepped boldly back into the harem for a rendezvous with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse. 

Renée Fleming swoons in Strauss' Four Last Songs, while having Christian Thielemann and the Staatskapelle Dresden are our guides in the Alpine Symphony. 

Leif Ove Andsnes is supremely eloquent in Rachmaninov’s Fourth, but Strauss's Macbeth looks set to remain on the fringes. 

A classic production of Strauss' searing operatic depiction of the House of Atreus is revived with a particularly accomplished cast and musical direction.

Semyon Bychkov, the Berliner Philharmoniker and Gautier Capuçon present an outstanding programme exploring the different sides of musical heroism

A voice with the proportions of a cathedral; a higher register that's entirely secure; an attention to text. Rosenblatt Recitals gave a tantalising preview of a singer who will have a stellar career.

In Wagner and Strauss, the beauty and power of Mattila's voice, still fresh and flexible, left the audience reeling in a recital that was a showcase for technique and artistry.

Iréne Theorin gives a powerful interpretation of Salome and Elektra's mad scenes in a concert including Also sprach Zarathustra and a contemporary composition.

Last night in Sweden: Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra make a performance of Strauss' Don Quixote to remember at the Stockholm Concert Hall.

A sombre programme of four substantial works, part of the LPOs series of concert Belief and Beyond Belief nevertheless had something of showbusiness about it, thanks to the charismatic presence of John Mauceri. 

Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts the US première of Tansy Davies' Forest, a work intended to evoke a Romantic sensation of mystery and nature.

Sir Andrew Davis also led superb performances of Delius’ Brigg Fair and Strauss’ Don Quixote, with Mark Kosower and Wesley Collins as soloists.

The Iceland Symphony Orchestra's tour to the acoustically excellent Göteborgs konserthus in Sweden for a concert of Sibelius, Strauss and Thorvaldsdóttir was an obvious success, demonstrating an orchestral sound that deserves to be heard abroad more often. 

There are several things wrong with the new Robert Carsen directed Der Rosenkavalier that just opened at the Met, but the singing is not among them.

Zubin Mehta's conducting is a disappointment, but Guth's remarkable production makes powerful sense of Strauss and Hofmannsthal's rich fairy tale. 

A reading full of emotion from conductor Juraj Valčuha sets up one of the best San Carlo Orchestra’s performances of this season.

Fabio Luisi and the DNSO did not disappoint audiences in San Francisco, presenting a captivating program of Beethoven, Strauss and Nielsen.

Reflections on mortality provided by the French contralto Nathalie Stutzmann conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir in two works by Richard Strauss and Mozart.

Lise Davidsen's Ariadne and Sara Hershkowitz' Zerbinetta shine in the Arctic Philharmonic's slightly lacklustre Ariadne auf Naxos

For her London recital debut, Sondra Radvanovsky offered a varied programme of ranging from Bellini to Barber, showing off the technique with which she has dazzled American audiences.

American Ballet Theatre's Whipped Cream should be seen for Ryden's sets and costumes alone. A free-floating eye and a sweetshop whose ingredients come to life create a very surreal world.

Jumping in to cover for Valery Gergiev,  Susanna Mälkki made a promising debut with the LSO, offering a commendable, if flawed, Also sprach Zarathustra.

In Los Angeles, Patricia Racette was an impressive Salome but the orchestra was, as it should, the main character.

A well-sung revival of a witty and supremely theatrical production of Strauss’ operatic exposé.

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

The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra performed new(ish) music straight from its own bloodline (René Staar) under the direction of Maestro Franz Welser-Möst alongside works by Schubert, R. Strauss, and, inevitably, Strauss II in their first concert of 2017 at Carnegie Hall.

Clear playing from Pierre-Laurent Aimard in the Emperor Concerto and a sense of the dramatic in Also sprach Zarathustra brought life to old warhorses, while a new concerto from Tansy Davies made waves.

Captiavting European musical narratives in Washington DC.

A declamatory Bruckner Te Deum made up for a less exciting first half of Barry and Mahler.