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A programme of works by living composers showcases a dazzling new violin concerto.

Juanjo Mena and the BBC Philharmonic juxtaposed Simpson's oratorio, The Immortal, inspired by mediums and seances, with Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony where life slips away into the void.

Johannes Moser summmoned the other in Dutilleux's Baudelaire-inspired cello concerto, but the BBC Philharmonic and Juanjo Mena gave a mundane account of Elgar's First Symphony. 

So many things are right about Mark Simpson's new opera Pleasure, receiving its London debut at the Lyric Hammersmith.

New Dots is a new initiative devoted to supporting emerging composers and performers in contemporary music, and this was its second-ever concert, at The Forge in Camden.

On the day after the announcement of the programme for this year’s BBC Proms, the BBC Symphony Orchestra gave us yet another concert worthy of that great festival. Under the experienced baton of Martyn Brabbins they took three centuries of music in their stride and at the end of the concert I was left feeling that musical life in London would be so much less exciting without the BBC.

The Last Night of the Proms isn’t really a concert at all; it’s two very different concerts put on one after the other. The first is something like what we’re used to from a Prom, with big-name soloists performing alongside the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Chorus in world premières and classic works from the repertoire.

If you're a flute trio, you need to be innovative. And Tempest Flute Trio certainly are: they presented an impressive array of works at the Forge in Camden last night, ranging from innovative arrangements to commissions, and performing with a sense of ensemble which would have been remarkable for any grouping of instruments.

Eine Österreischische Erstaufführung, Kurtág, Schumann, dramaturgische Logik und viel Musikalität wurden im Großen Saal der Stiftung Mozarteum mit Spannung verfolgt.