Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Saariaho

Sakari Oramo and Annsi Karttunen bring Northern lights and folklore to the Philharmonie, closing on a touch of Czech optimism with Dvořák’s Eighth Symphony.

At the Metropolitan Opera, Innocence proves a gripping and perhaps divisive piece which feels real because it is a reflection of our reality, with no realistic hope of finding peace. 

Yuja Wang returns to the New York Philharmonic with Rautavaara’s dazzling First Piano Concerto in a probing program curated and conducted by Thomas Adès.

A death-themed evening might not seem a crowd-pleaser, but the Dudok Quartet defies convention in this excellent concert at Sheffield’s Music in the Round.

Pierre Audi is remembered in words and music as the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence receives $1m – the richest prize in classical music – at Stockholm’s Konserthuset. 

This co-production, previously seen in San Francisco, is more of a semi-staging, convinces thanks to committed performances from a cast led by Fleur Barron.  

Present what could be considered challenging work unapologetically, the Manchester Collective makes friends on London's Southbank. 

Former Cliburn winner Vadym Kholodenko returns to Singapore in mesmerising and thrilling form.

In a rewarding program of challenging, unfamiliar scores, Thomas Adès and The Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus tackle works by Sibelius, Ives, Saariaho, and Adès himself.

Karina Canellakis conducts a program at the New York Philharmonic of works tied to the mystical or ineffable, with astonishing clarity.

A Finnish soundscape, fine detail in Bartók and deep understanding in Beethoven from the Royal Northern Sinfonia with Dinis Sousa and Víkingur Ólafsson. 

Oramo leads the BBC Symphony Orchestra and trumpeter Verneri Pohjola in a moving tribute to Kaija Saariaho with the UK premiere of her concerto HUSH. 

Truls Mørk joins Tarmo Peltokoski and the Rotterdam Phil for a deeply emotional reading of Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto no. 2. 

An unusual double bill opens the new season at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, with Susanna Mälkki offering a moving take on Saariaho and Mahler.

The BBC Symphony Orchestra shines in Strauss, in particular the characterful woodwind solos and the fulsomely resplendent brass. 

Klangforum Wien finishes a far-reaching excursion into the boldest realms of modern music with a flourish.

In his second week of local performances, the Finnish composer-conductor offers a lush performance of music by a beloved collaborator, the late Kaija Saariaho.

A celebration concert of Feldman's Rothko Chapel ticks all the boxes for a great show. 

A thrilling, expansive Bruckner 3 is preceded by Beethoven's Egmont overture and Elizabeth Atherton singing Kaija Saariaho's exquisite Leino Songs.

Monodramas by Francis Poulenc, Kaija Saariaho and Jack Symonds feature in a triple bill on the themes of love, loss and absence. 

Hannu Lintu conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra in an epic symphonic programme at Snape Maltings. 

The Barbican and BBC welcome the Finn to the exclusive pantheon of the order of “Total Immersion” – a full day devoted to the music of a single living composer. 

Kaija Saariaho's opera – staged by Simon Stone and the hit of the 2021 Aix-en-Provence Festival – makes its UK debut.

The Finnish conductor paired works by compatriots Jean Sibelius and Kaija Saariaho with interesting, offbeat selections from Stravinsky and Bartók.

The hottest ticket in town, as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra's new Artistic Partner takes his place on the podium to conduct Saariaho and Mahler.  

Carolina Eyck uncovers the dark art of playing the theremin and John Storgårds conducts Kaija Saariaho's Vista and Shostakovich's enigmatic final symphony. 

A boldly curated programme, showcasing two ambitious orchestral works premiered during the last two years, proved to be a most stimulating evening. 

Travel restrictions prevented both the concert’s marquee names from appearing, but their stand-ins stamped their personalities on an immensely attractive (and unchanged) programme. 

NYVOS Next offers works by Alvin Lucier, Kaija Saariaho and evening curator Kate Soper in a program demonstrating both the breadth of and inherent risks in live performance with electronics.

In Kaija Saariaho's clarinet concerto D'om le vrai sens, with Kari Kriikku as soloist, and Mahler's Symphony no. 7, masterfully conducted by Ilan Volkov, the RTÉ NSO enchant the audience in Dublin.

Storgårds, Helmchen and the Boston Symphony Orchestra impress with a programme inspired by nature.

Mälkki triumphs in the subtleties of Saariaho, stumbles in the ecstasies of Messiaen. 

Kaija Saariaho's delightful but unchallenging fourth opera comes to Madrid with the same crew of the world première and Davone Tines, Philippe Jaroussky and Nora Kimball-Mentzos in the leading roles

British cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason gave the impression that he had been playing the cello since he was in the womb

Czech harpsichord legend Zuzana Růžičková would have turned 91 on 14 January, making it an ideal night for a tribute concert featuring one of her star pupils, Iranian-American harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani. As he noted in brief remarks sandwiched between rousing renditions of Bach, “When she died, I lost a great teacher. But this country lost part of its history.

Leila Josefowicz ticked all the boxes in this stunning recital: highly imaginative curation; musicality in every note; and a winning ability to communicate to the Wigmore Hall audience.

Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra brought a fresh approach to Mahler's Fourth Symphony and the harp took centre stage for a change with a concerto première. 

Saariaho’s lush orchestral shapes could just as readily suggest ecstasy as agony.

Conductor Susanna Mälkki, in her Met Opera debut, led the Met Opera Orchestra in a limber performance of Ms Saariaho's gorgeous music, the first woman-authored score to be heard at the Met in 113 years.

John Storgårds and the BBC Philharmonic offer an intriguing autumnal programme of freezing delights. 

In the finale to Der Dreigroschenoper the sinister incantation of "Denn wovon lebt der Mensch?" ("For what does man live?") ran delightfully close to the bone in these plush surroundings

Clarinetist Kari Kriikku sauntered through the aisles of both the orchestra and audience, spinning around in two complete 360s and surely dousing the flabbergasted listeners in the floor seating with saliva.

Besides Giltburg’s superlative play in Grieg, Saraste’s Sibelius swept you off your feet. 

Philippe Jaroussky stars in a new Kaija Saariaho—Peter Sellars collaboration: Only the Sound Remains. Not since Written on Skin has modern opera thrilled with such intensity.

Principals from Royal Northern Sinfonia showcase new music from even further North than Gateshead, with chamber works from Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Estonia.

A superb lunch time concert by the Britten Sinfonia players which included outstanding performances of works by Debussy, Fauré and a newly commissioned work titled "Light and Matter” by the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho. 

The English String Orchestra present works inspired by nature, colour and life by four contemporary composers.

A programme of works by Kaija Saariaho and Jean Sibelius promised a blast of Nordic ice down the back of the neck, but the performances under fellow Finn Esa-Pekka Salonen raised the temperature considerably higher than anticipated.

The San Francisco Contemporary Chamber Music Players headlined the third night of the Sweet Thunder Festival with a program of electroacoustic warhorses and world premières.