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

Pappano never put a foot wrong as he dug precious beauties from beneath his fingers.

Lamsma is not a household name here in America but her deep sense of commitment may well make her one.

Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes is a nuanced, gripping tale that should pack an emotional punch. Despite fine moments, Oper Köln's production didn't serve the work. 

The music’s explosions of volume have an open-throated magnificence.

The RLPO and NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover join forces for Britten's War Requiem.

Ailish Tynan's powerful soprano soared above the massive forces of the choir in the thundering "Libera Me" – a wall of sound that blew the audience away.

From the claustrophobic intensity of Britten and Shostakovich to the sunny balm of Beethoven, this was an excellent recital. 

The Sixteen's Choral Pilrimage dissolves the boundaries between old and new, sacred and profane with striking performances of music by Cornysh and Britten. 

Six concerts of Suffolk’s finest home-grown produce garnished with side orders of Mozart, Copland and Elgar.

Gianandrea Noseda conducts the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Netherlands Radio Choir and an ideal team of soloists in a memorable performance of Britten's War Requiem.

Fiery Prokofiev but lacklustre Britten with the National Orchestra of Belgium.

It was especially effective to hear the line “One ever hangs where shelled roads part” with the vast hanging crucifix with its portrait of Christ dominating the scene behind.

There was a tingle to this concert, as if musicians and audience alike saw clearly for the first time what riches lie ahead.

Britten's profoundly pacifist work is given a calm reading by Peter Oundjian and the RSNO: soprano Erin Wall, the RSNO Junior Chorus and the wind players provide the high spots of the evening.

Not since Monty Python has there been more fun with a chorus of lumberjacks.

An intriguing programme of Britten, Walton, Barber and Copland provided dynamism, evocative imagery and new discoveries in Juanjo Mena’s valedictory concert with the BBC Philharmonic.

The perfect invitation to daydream on a hot afternoon. 

Donald Runnicles conducts the World Orchestra for Peace and BBC Proms Youth Choir at The Proms

Under the baton of John Storgårds, Vilde Frang made her Cleveland Orchestra debut in Britten's Violin Concerto, with works of Antheil and Schumann rounding out a diverse selection.

Britten's War Requiem at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden with Antonio Pappano conducting

It's hard to find anything not to admire in a thrillingly strong production of Britten's haunting chamber opera. 

Lars Vogt and Royal Northern Sinfonia deliver Beethoven's Symphony no. 9 with swaggering self-confidence, and heroic chorus singing.

In the climax of his penultimate season Payare conducted the Ulster Orchestra in a programme of Britten, Mahler and Shostakovich. 

Oper Frankfurt's revival of Richard Jones's production of Billy Budd with a homegrown cast is a devastating combination of powerful music and searing drama.

Ivor Bolton and David McVicar have teamed up to create an unapologetically Brittenian Gloriana, with Anna Caterina Antonacci at the top of a great cast

Uncertain Britten from Dausgaard and the RPO, but intense and passionate Elgar from Isserlis, and powerfully engaging Rachmaninov featuring exceptional woodwind playing from the RPO.

An unusual programme at the Musikverein, drawing together works by Mendelssohn, Brahms and a piano concerto by Britten. 

Julius Drake, Krzysztof Chorzelski and Mark Padmore contributed their notable gifts of piano, viola and voice respectively in a very special, often heartfelt fundraising evening for two music education charities. 

If Chest is not yet the finished article, he’s damned close.

Timothy Edlin was a superb ass, first among six equals, in Liam Steel's production. 

In Siberian conditions more akin to The Winter's Tale, a revival of Robert Carsen's season setting of Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream offered a warm glow at the Coliseum.

Invigorating in the pit, Britten’s Billy Budd never gets its sea legs on the National Theatre stage.

The Scottish Chamber Orchestra also have a winner in a radiant Vaughan Williams Symphony no. 5.

The Philadelphia Orchestra's Winter Festival celebrates the British Isles. 

As a whole, this American Ballet Theatre program was good but the presence of Hee Seo and David Hallberg in Jerome Robbins' Other Dances made it indelible.

It was another evening staring into the abyss courtesy of the London Symphony Orchestra, with Britten's Violin Concerto paired with Mahler's Fifth Symphony.

Delivering winsome interpretations along with precision ensemble, the "conductorless" SPCO presents two youthful Schubert and Britten masterpieces that were created by their composers in mere days.

Prophecies and apocalyptic visions were on the programme as part of the London Philharmonic's Be Moved season.

Alina Ibragimova plays with skill but insufficient sound to fill the Royal Albert Hall; Vladimir Jurowski and the LPO blow the roof off with Shostakovich's account of the Revolution of 1905.

Side by side, the combined forces of the RSNO and the Mariinsky under Gergiev recall the Western première of Shostakovich Fourth symphony at the 1962 Edinburgh Festival.

The problematic nature of Britten's Rape of Lucretia is well-known: Sydney Chamber Opera's production attempts to navigate it via gender inversion. 

Stuart Skelton’s visceral Peter Grimes is matched by a strong cast with thrilling playing and singing from the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra under Edward Gardner.

Affecting Britten, distinctive Elias and popular Elgar, with a curio of arranged Purcell thrown in, from Ryan Wigglesworth and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

Dame Sarah Connolly and Julius Drake savour the al fresco surrounds of the Villa Foce to produce a delightful evening of eclectic music in four languages. Delizioso!

BalletNOW returns to the Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center in Los Angeles. The production features dancers from six different major ballet companies, but fails to impress.

Sir Andrew Davis led the BBC SO in a recreation of Sir Malcolm Sargent's 500th Prom, a lengthy programme that failed to inspire.

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

Peter Nardone directs the Three Choirs Festival Chorus and Philharmonia Orchestra in a problematic yet thought-provoking opening concert at Worcester Cathedral.

A period-perfect Albert Herring from Francis Matthews for Buxton International Festival takes time to settle into its stride, but provides plenty of laughs along the way. 

Oregon Ballet Theater closed its season with the first instalment of a new program in support of emerging female choreographers. New work by Helen Simoneau and Gioconda Barbuto made a particularly striking impression.