Tchaikovsky’s warhorse piano concerto is given a performance stripped of all showmanship. Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra completes this oddly programmed concert from the RLPO.
Among the standouts at the San Francisco Ballet gala evening performance were Ana Sophia Scheller in Rubies, Sasha De Sola in Études, Benjamin Freemantle in Agon, and Misa Kuranaga and Angelo Greco in Handel-A Celebration.
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.
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.
The Sixteen's Choral Pilrimage dissolves the boundaries between old and new, sacred and profane with striking performances of music by Cornysh and Britten.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
