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

An exciting new partnership between Owain Park and Cambridge Chorale got off to a good start with a first concert of Bach and Parry. 

The 2016 Proms come to a riotous close at the Royal Albert Hall.

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

Sakari Oramo takes the reins for his first Last Night of the Proms, alongside dazzling violinist Janine Jansen and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

How would the Choir of King's College, Cambridge cope in the difficult acoustic of Sydney Opera House? Under the direction of Stephen Cleobury, they delivered a polished programme.

The Last Night of the Proms provided a welcome tying-up of the various strands that have permeated this year’s season: British light music, the 60th anniversary of the Coronation, a host of premières and new BBC commissions, and the significant anniversaries of a number of composers (including the big-hitters of the season, Wagner and Britten).

The 60th anniversary of Her Majesty’s Coronation has prompted much festivity and reminiscence. To be on the throne for such a long time is a remarkable achievement, and to be almost as active as ever in carrying out royal duties 60 years on even more so; events such as the service of celebration at Westminster Abbey, and the many Coronation-related television and radio broadcasts, have provided

The Last Night of the Proms isn’t really a concert at all; it’s two very different concerts put on one after the other. The first is something like what we’re used to from a Prom, with big-name soloists performing alongside the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Chorus in world premières and classic works from the repertoire.

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.

The Last Night of the Proms isn't really a concert: it's more like going to the cast party for the Proms season.

I have to confess that an event like this is not within my normal musical radar. My music reviewing and listening is predominantly serious classical, and most of it is for a specialist part of that wide repertoire. So it was a slightly brave, or foolhardy, idea to offer to review one of these musical spectaculars at my local castle.