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The Presteigne Festival went Polish this year with an enterprising perspective of contemporary and post-war works including the world première of Paveł Łukaszewski’s newly commissioned Requiem. 

Peter Broadbent and the Joyful Company of Singers return to the Presteigne festival for an enterprising programme of unfamiliar 20th-century choral repertoire.

Infectious fun from the BBC Philharmonic, as Mancunian trained composers McCabe and Birtwistle received a warm welcome at Bridgewater Hall, and Holst's ever popular Planets triumphed. 

In a week of intense and lengthy performances of Der Ring des Nibelungen, this Prom provided an antidote in the form of classical music inspired by or written for dance – after a purely instrumental first half, the second half of the concert brought dancers to the stage in a riveting, edge-of-seat intense combination of colour, rhythm and sound.

Entitled “Passion and Resurrection”, this exquisite concert from Stile Antico unfolded as an exploration of music written in response to Holy Week.One of the group’s most striking characteristics is their decision to work without a conductor, a move which can at times produce chamber music of the highest quality.

Frequent concertgoers in our modern age will be all too aware of the irritation factor of mobile phones going off during performance. The King’s Singers, however, make a feature of the phenomenon and take it to another level. This world-class ensemble delighted a packed Hereford Cathedral, the closing concert of their 2011/12 season coinciding with the Three Choirs Festival.