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

When done as well as this, a "concert staging" is not oxymoronic, but a precise term for a valuable mode of presentation.

The five female voices in the opera's main roles complement each other wonderfully in this more-than-concert performance in New York. 

A moving St John Passion from the OAE, with direction shared between Margaret Faultless and tenor Mark Padmore.

Paul Curran's production of Carmen is entertaining and slick, with Paula Murrihy as a feisty heroine.

It’s the title character who gets the best tunes in Ariodante and Irish mezzo-soprano Paula Murrihy ate them up. 

The Orchestra of the 18th Century proves the main asset of a rewarding Don Giovanni at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. 

Hugo Wolf once said “Brahms cannot exult”. He should have heard this.

Joshua Bloom and Paula Murrihy excel in Irish National Opera's staging of Bartók's opera, although director Enda Walsh takes too many liberties with the libretto. 

The transfer of last year's Clemenza di Tito from Salzburg delights and irritates in equal measure.

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

Kenneth Montgomery leads the Orchestra of the 18th Century and a fine team of young soloists in a swift, finely detailed interpretation of La clemenza di Tito.

David Alden's staging of Alcina mines the rich theatricality of one of Handel's best-loved operas with enchanting but also perplexing results. 

The legendary Kings College Choir, Cambridge, conducted by their very own Stephen Cleobury, was accompanied by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment on period instruments at the Royal Albert Hall.

Paula Murrihy's role debut in Frankfurt not only proves to be infatuating, but also irresistibly cool.

Dutch National Opera have given themselves and their patrons a smashing 50th birthday present – a production of Der Rosenkavalier that is a winner on all fronts.

L'Orontea was premièred as turbulent Carneval entertainment in 1656. Now it is experiencing a fast-paced new staging as modern opera gag at Frankfurt Opera.

Where is the line? Where does the stage end and the audience begin? This is what Australian director Barrie Kosky probes in his production pairing Purcell's Dido and Aeneas with Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle.

“He’s not an opera director. He’s a very naughty boy!” Three years after his surreal Damnation of Faust, Terry Gilliam tackles more Berlioz for English National Opera in the shape of Benvenuto Cellini, striking gold again.

Twenty-eight immobile cast members faced the audience from the long white bench which comprised the totality of Katrin Lea Tag’s bare set. Meanwhile, a floor-level, period instrument orchestra delivered the attention-grabbing, minor key Overture to Purcell's 1688 Dido and Aeneas.

L'Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment et Mark Padmore proposent au TCE une Passion selon saint Jean de Bach solide et ciselée mais par endroit trop contenue. 

Mit Faurés Pénélope bringt die Oper Frankfurt erneut eine Rarität und unterschätzte Oper in ihren Spielplan.

Željko Lučić als Gast zu Haus: Wieder singt er eine hinreißende Partie an der Oper Frankfurt.

L’Indian Queen de Purcell aura ravi à Genève les auditeurs d’un drame baroque tellement moderne. Les héros de cette fresque amoureuse malheureuse auront suscité bien des émotions qui perdureront longtemps tant leur implication fut totale. Bravo ! 

In einem minimalistischen Bühnenbild aber durch höchst intensive Charakterisierung der Figuren gelingt an der Frankfurter Oper mit Händels Radamisto ein außergewöhnlich packender Opernabend.

Douglas Boyd dirigeait l’Orchestre de Chambre de Paris dans un Messie de belle tenue à la Philharmonie de Paris. On y était.

Mark Padmore est aujourd’hui l’un des Évangélistes les plus renommés et expérimentés de la scène internationale. Pour ce concert qu'il dirige aussi il a choisi un effectif de 16 chanteurs pour l'ensemble des parties vocales.