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

Three concerts over one day at the opening weekend of Bachfest Leipzig combined Bach’s music with that of composers from Rachmaninov to Sibelius, but nothing matches the unrivalled bliss of Bach’s own music performed with total conviction.

Metastasio's tale of noble Roman suicide was made into a pasticcio by Handel in 1732: and, after 283 years of silence, returned to the London stage as part of the 2015 London Handel Festival. 

Channelling Conchita Wurst in its starring role, the Early Opera Company's production of this rare Rameau opera is bursting with laughs and memorable performances from a strong young cast. 

Opera North's static production of Monteverdi's The Coronation of Poppea directed by Tim Albery takes place in a murderous psychopath’s private cellar. 

A tremendous performance of one of Rameau's great stage works, but one that raised questions about the plot in concert form.

Out of the swamp: Marcel Beekman rocks the house in Robert Carsen’s glittering take on Platée.

In a city where period-instrument concerts are legion, performances by William Christie and his excellent ensemble Les Arts Florissants remain very special events, if only because their original programming brings a breath of fresh air in a country where, still too often, baroque music isn’t taken very seriously if it isn’t Bach.

The decision to appoint the Early Opera Company and Scanner as this year’s associate artists says much about Spitalfields Music Summer Festival, an eclectic cornucopia of classical and non-classical music concerts by professional and amateur artists, bespoke tours, and family activities.

Spring has sprung and the arts flourish at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Earlier this week, William Christie and his superb ensemble Les Arts Florissants revived Charpentier’s David et Jonathas, first produced at the 2012 Festival d’Aix-en-Provence (review here).

When we look back to the disease and mistreatment that arrived with the European colonisation of South America, the role of music in the whole affair is not often the first issue that comes to mind.

Probably no other work in the repertoire has such mystical status as Bach's Matthew Passion. Phrases like "The Greatest Work in the Western Canon", trip glibly off the tongue while failing to illuminate its greatness or acknowledge its strangeness. It is the sacred cow of sacred cows.

Riccardo Primo, Re d’Inghilterra (or in English, Richard I), is Handel’s only opera based on the story of an English monarch, and it was premiered in the coronation year of King George II in 1727 (although in fact it was composed the year before but postponed).

Ein auf allen Ebenen aufgehendes Regiekonzept Schumachers traf auf die Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin unter Hofstetter, die auch einen Knaller nach dem nächsten gestaltete.

Cette Flûte Enchantée, qui joue avec intelligence sur les contrastes et la complexité des personnages, est servie par un plateau de jeunes et talentueux interprètes.

L’association prometteuse de William Christie des Arts Florissants avec le metteur en scène Robert Carsen ambitionnait de restituer sur instruments d’époque l’opéra-ballet du compositeur français André Campra (1660-1744). Pari réussi.

In der Inszenierung von Claus Guth bestechen der Blick in menschliche Abgründe und Komik gleichermaßen. Jean-Christophe Spinosi dirigiert eine exzellente Besetzung und „Elektronik meets Originalklang“.

Après Platée, Robert Carsen renouvelle sa collaboration avec William Christie cette saison avec Les Fêtes vénitiennes de Campra : un véritable spectacle, alliant musique exaltée et danses endiablées. Un pur joyau, jouissif sur tous les plans.