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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

With a combined age of 161 years, John Copley and Steuart Bedford certainly bring ample experience to Grange Festival's new production of Britten's Albert Herring. 

At the opera’s great climaxes Suffolk’s famous wood-and-brick building could barely contain it.

Netia Jones' new production taps into Britten's silvery underworld in a staging dominated by video wizardry which is hypnotically beautiful, but comes at a price.

This Peter Grimes was a tale of two talents: the conductor and the star.

The Comunale had teamed up with Bologna's basketball team Virtus to create a 50%-off ticket deal aimed at drawing new audiences. The subject matter of this opera might not seem the most immediately accessible, but this was playing to capture the imaginations of opera newbies.

East meets West meets East in a disappointing display of homogenised, sugar-coated music-making in Birmingham

Another evocative salute to Slava in Washington DC/

Benjamin Britten's Death in Venice at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in an outstanding new production by Graham Vick and Donald Runnicles.

Dido and Aeneas was triumphant and had all those great moments that make Morris’s choreography among the most musical I’ve seen.

Cellist Gautier Capuçon and pianist Frank Braley are artists I have previously admired in many chamber ensemble concerts, but their recital at Kings Place was the first time I heard them as a duo.

The American cellist unlocked a corporeal vault –thus shining light on musical internal organs that we never knew existed.

Dutch National Ballet proves its innovative tradition of modern ballet with playful, serious, subtle and powerful pieces.

Billy Budd triumphs in Madrid thanks to an inspired orchestra, a solid cast and a dream team of stage magicians.

A sizzling combination of classical, jazz and folk-inspired music from Fröst and the Academy which drifted across continents with consummate skill.

An evening of English repertoire at King's Place where the pleasures were flecked with disappointments.