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

80% less of Shakespeare's text adds up to more intensity in Brett Dean's Hamlet as Neil Armfield's staging is mounted by Opera Australia. 

Terrific music making with a light directorial touch brings mixed results to Monteverdi's 1643 masterpiece. 

Pinchgut Opera presents magnificent music and a timeless ethical debate on faith versus sectarian difference. 

Handel's Rodelinda comes to Göttingen a year after the planned centennial anniversary event, but is worth the wait with respect to musical values led by conductor Laurence Cummings with Anna Dennis in the title role.

Vivaldi's Farnace is reconstructed by Pinchgut Opera in ways which might not do the composer full dramatic justice, but the production and high musical values provide an excellent night of operatic drama. 

A concert performance of Handel's not-quite-an-opera proves a hit on tour in New York. 

Brett Dean's Hamlet is an extremely powerful theatrical experience, excelling in all aspects of production, singing and musical values, but is it an opera?

Handel’s opera Orlando is famous for the great mad scene at the end of Act 2. Specifically written for the celebrated castrato Senesino, it’s an emotionally powerful ten-minute monologue.

A performance of Handel's oratorio Israel in Egypt performed by the Orchestra and Choir of the Age of the Enlightenment with William Christie conducting.

Brett Dean treats Shakespeare's behemoth as a timeless story told in language that has become timeless; no effort is spared in elucidating and amplifying that story.

The stunning Glyndebourne production of Saul by Barrie Kosky also makes a big impact in the Adelaide Festival.

Reinhard Goebel's Messiah with Royal Northern Sinfonia had good moments but the overall performance didn't convince. 

Handel's oratorio Theodora performed by Pinchgut Opera in Sydney was played and sung beautifully in a rather drab production. Kudos to the soloists especially countertenor Christopher Lowery and conductor Erin Helyard.

Roberto Abbado's precise conducting made the score tingle with life. The magical glissandi were full of mystery, the hotbed of musical detail cleanly communicated and the amorous outbursts treated with Italianate ardour.

Handel's Susanna at the Göttingen International Handel Festival is unforgettable, a revelation.

A memorable production of Vivaldi's pasticcio opera Bajazet from Pinchgut Opera in Sydney. 

Former RSC Artistic Director Michael Boyd imparts a distinctly Shakespearean flavour to Monteverdi's L'Orfeo in this first collaboration between the Royal Opera and the Roundhouse.

Billed as a “concert hall staging”, the Academy of Ancient Music’s season-opening performance of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo was brilliantly staged at the Barbican by the director Orpha Phelan and designer Caroline Hughes – as close as one could get to a full production in a concert hall without a pit.

La mise en scène par Laurent Pelly vient réparer un manque : le chef-d’œuvre onirique et féérique de Britten n'avait encore jamais été donné dans l’opéra de la capitale vaudoise.

Stefan Herheim legt Händels Oratorium ins Wiener Café Central – verführerisch wie die Kuchenvitrine.

Mit Händels Orlando ist an der Oper Frankfurt aus subtiler Personenführung, dem genialen Bühnenbild, phantasievollen Kostümen, einem prachtvoll aufspielenden Orchester, einem wunderbaren Sängerensemble und fünf anmutigen Tänzern ein wahres Gesamtkunstwerk gelungen. 

Un formidable plateau était réuni sur la scène du Théâtre des Champs-Élysées pour une version de concert de l'opéra de Haendel, sous la direction rythmiquement univoque de Christophe Rousset.

Christophe Rousset et Les Talens Lyriques exhument La divisione del mondo, opéra de Legrenzi donné pour la première fois en France 350 ans après sa création. Une découverte qui offre des moments exquis, portés par la mise en scène de Jetske Mijnssen.

Eine exquisite Händel-Oper mit bravourösem Christopher Lowrey, meisterhafter Sophie Junker und einem Festpiel Orchester unter Laurence Cummings in eingespielter Höchstform.

Accourez au Grand Théâtre de Genève faire un rêve éveillé : de l’excellence du plateau de solistes, des couleurs de l’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande dirigé avec maestria par Steven Sloane, à la rêverie offerte par la mise en scène de Katharina Thalbach, ce Britten là vous déroutera peut-être, mais vous fera rêver sûrement !