Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Pärt

Stravinsky and Arvo Pärt’s modernism trumps Rachmaninov’s romanticism with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta. 

CSO concertmaster Robert Chen took the spotlight in two 20th-century works with Neeme Järvi conducting; anchoring the program was Beethoven’s Pastoral.

A world premiere that gives yet more credence to the burgeoning reputation of Crystal Pite for creating absorbing mass movement of considerable beauty 

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

Alina Ibragimova with the Scottish Ensemble perform exuberant early teenage Mendelssohn, deeply spiritual Pärt and Vasks, politically lethal Hartmann and utterly thrilling Bach.

Bringing her programme of Baroque arias to London, Joyce DiDonato was on a mission to discover how we find peace.

Richard Tognetti (violin) and Polina Leschenko (piano) display an intensely concentrated, yet good-humoured rapport in Sydney. 

The Turku Philharmonic showcases some of the finest work from 20th-century Slavic composers.  

Intricate hip-hop, sinuous African, lyrical ballet and glorious gospel held together with powerful contemporary technique: you are hit by huge waves of happiness and end the show smiling.

...it was the Bach pieces that were the undoubted highlights, particularly the radiant contribution of Sara Macliver.

The Sixteen, augmented by alumni of Genesis Sixteen, proved to be the perfect instrument for Pärt, but lacked personality in Bach.

Sensational playing from the Philharmonia ended a superb season at the Royal Festival Hall, and allowed a brief escape from the troubles of our times.

A bird's-eye view of Gustavo Dudamel's opening concert in the LA Phil's Mozart-Pärt cycle.

The Estonian Music Days end with a recital of choral music that often proved challenging, but not in a good way. 

Great musicality from Royal Northern Sinfonia in deceptively simple Pärt and a fearsomely demanding piece by John Tavener.

A magical, brilliantly conceived programme of Byrd, Tallis and Arvo Pärt

A high-spirited divertissement from the New York City Ballet.

The Royal Ballet premieres Christopher Wheeldon's Strapless, and performs two other ballets by the choreographer for the first time.

Substituting for Riccardo Muti, Gennady Rozhdestvensky lead the CSO in a program of diverse works for string orchestra along with Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, featuring the CSO's principal clarinetist.

Clyne, Ligeti and Pärt sit down with Bach and Scarlatti for a spot of lunch!

Mats Ek pours his heart and soul in to the most ungainly gestures, and his last programme in Paris is a fitted farewell.

The Scottish Ensemble's seasonal concert by candlelight looks at J.S. Bach and those inspired by his music.  

The Manchester Camerata directed by Giovanni Guzzo gave moving, entertaining and expressive pieces by Pärt, Mozart, Piazzolla and Britten with Guzzo and pianist Gabriela Montero as soloists.

McFall's Chamber was full of surprises exploring 20th century music from the Baltic. The Finns' love affair with the Tango contrasted with passionate brooding Baltic landscapes – and there was a saw.

With a programme inspired by neuroscience and fairytale, the Royal Ballet shows that one is not born, but rather, becomes a woman.

The bells of Mussorgsky, Rachmaninov and Pärt resound and reverberate in The Main Hall of the Concertgebouw.

Flags, balloons and musical revelry bring the BBC Proms season to a close. 

A monument to the first two years of a new creative friendship, exhibiting Double Grey (2014), Birkenau (2015), and Drei Hirtenkinder aus Fátima (2014) [in situ].

Piano duo Antoine Françoise and Robin Green perform a challenging, innovative and entertaining lunchtime recital.

A Child Of Our Time brought this year's Auckland Arts Festival to a magnificent finish with its message as universal as it was when first composed. 

In a diverse programme consisting of Haydn and Pärt, Stephen Layton impressed with his choir Polyphony, while the Britten Sinfonia performed a fine rendition of Shostakovich's Chamber Symphony. 

Ray Chen and Julien Quentin perform a scintilating Prokofiev and a delightful Stravinsky in this largely Russian programme. 

Cleveland Orchestra Miami principal conductor Giancarlo Guerrero led a moving reading of Pärt's Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten and a blazing John Adams Harmonielehre.

In a celestial choir-off, one could imagine the Tallis Scholars giving the Seraphims and Cherubims a run for their money.

National Youth Choir of Scotland Chamber Choir and Lammermuir Festival Players delight in an imaginative programme of French and Estonian sacred music.

Dennis Russell Davies and the Basel Symphony orchestra, in their tour of the UK, have bravely chosen to take with them a generous selection of minimalist works by some of the leading composers in this genre, a brilliant programme of music by Philip Glass, Arvo Pärt and John Adams at Cadogan Hall.

Employing khoomei, a style of singing that remains “a mystery to Western science”, each of the four performers was capable of producing up to four notes at once.

Anoushka Shankar and the RSNO under Kristjan Järvi delight with complementary takes on 'the East' – Arvo Pärt and Ravi Shankar at Edinburgh's Usher Hall.

Evan Mitchell reviews Voices of Change in a performance featuring works by Iturbide, Martino, Pärt, Turina, and Fung at City Performance Hall in Dallas.

Carla Escoda reviews Pacific Northwest Ballet's mixed bill featuring the world première of Memory Glow by Alejandro Cerrudo, and revivals of Molissa Fenley's iconoclastic solo to Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, State of Darkness, Susan Marshall's aerial ballet Kiss, and Susan Stroman's TAKE FIVE...More or Less, set to Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond.

Gwyneth Wentink created a fascinating and atmospheric final performance in the AAA Festival at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.

Violinist Pekka Kuusisto and composer Nico Muhly performed at (Le) Poisson Rouge, with music by Bach, Pärt, Glass, and Muhly.

Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, with their director Graham Ross, wound up their North American tour with music for Advent at Fairmount Presbyterian Church, Cleveland, with music by Howells, Britten, Tavener, Rutter, and Roderick Williams's haunting "O Adonai et Dux domus Israel."

Violinist Pekka Kuusisto and Britten Sinfonia succeeded in creating a dynamic and captivating programme at Milton Court, with a series of works conceived as a whole and leading up to Britten's Serenade.

Part of the White Light Festival at Lincoln Center, The Tallis Scholars gave a selection of music that ranged from John Taverner to Nico Muhly.

Change is in the air at Ballet San Jose, and Saturday night’s star-studded gala to welcome new artistic director José Manuel Carreño proved this in a big way.

Sadler’s Wells present these five original works as an evening of British-Chinese cultural collaboration, but while full of beautiful moments, the evening falls short of this advertised purpose. Choreographers Russell Maliphant and Christopher Wheeldon each present two pieces, while Edwaard Liang presents one.

It is pleasing to see concerts of music by living composers well attended, and such was the case at “A Timeless Beauty”, part of the Southbank Centre’s year-long celebration of contemporary music The Rest is Noise. This concert’s theme was “Politics and Spirituality”, and looked to the former Soviet Union for inspiration.Two composers on the programme provided contrasting examples.

The Tallis Scholars have been one of the foremost Renaissance vocal ensemble since their inception forty years ago. This was the ensemble’s first visit to New Zealand (organised by Chamber Music New Zealand in partnership with the New Zealand Choral Federation and Dean Endowment Trust) and the performance quality made it worth every minute of the forty year wait.

On Saturday at St James’s Church, the Nonsuch Singers presented a captivating programme titled “To the Field of Stars”. It was a compelling mix of recent and old music, predominantly works by living composers and composers from the 16th century. It culminated in the première of Gabriel Jackson’s newly commissioned work To the Field of Stars.