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

A memorable and important event in the history of British ballet, sensitively and sentimentally performed. 

Many ballet fans do not find galas particularly enjoyable. We can admire our favourite dancers performing acrobatic solos, numerous fouettés and famous variations, but little space is left for the dancers to lose themselves in the roles they are playing, not to mention the limitations in terms of scenography and lighting.'Carlos Acosta – A Classical Selection' is a nice exception.

Carlos Acosta's Carmen premieres at the Royal Ballet, alongside Robbins' Afternoon of a Faun, Balanchine's Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux and Scarlett’s Viscera.

This charismatic Cuban is probably the only big dance name who could compete successfully with the Bolshoi Ballet now here in London. But then, for many years, Carlos Acosta has continuously shown persuasive pluck and daredevil tactics to his devoted audiences, many of whom are supporting him in his latest summer season programme at the Coliseum this week.

Last Friday, The Royal Ballet presented an exciting bill composed of George Balanchine’s iconic Apollo (1928) and two new ballets by acclaimed choreographers Alexei Ratmansky and Christopher Wheeldon. The programme was cleverly designed, since Ratmansky and Wheeldon are renowned explorers of the neoclassical style inaugurated by Balanchine.

Swan Lake is so iconic that describing it in a review seems superfluous. The idea of it, moreover, so dominates people’s perceptions of ballet, mine included, that before Monday night’s performance I was worried that I would be lost for fresh words, silenced by the weight Tchaikovsky and Petipa’s swans have acquired in the 117 years since they first fluttered across the stage in St Petersburg.

Metamorphosis: Titian 2012 invited artists from different disciplines, mainly the visual arts, dance and music, to respond to Titian's three magnifient paintings of the Diana and Actaeon myth. The results are displayed in an exhibition at the National Gallery (alongside Titian's originals), and in an triple bill of new ballets at the Royal Opera House.

The Royal Ballet's revival of The Prince of the Pagodas is an extraordinary achievement in many ways, not least because the ballet has an undistinguished history.

This Royal Ballet programme, staged to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of HM Queen Elizabeth II, makes an exhilarating tribute, and shows the company on top form in two very different works.

Not so many moons ago, opening night at the Opera House meant dressing up—dinner jackets, long dresses and furs, with of course, the obligatory embellishment of the family jewels. Alas, jeans, shirtsleeves and sneakers are all too often seen these days, so glamour and style must stem from the stage outwards into the auditorium.

There was no thought of letting the Royal Ballet dancers ease out gently in their last programme of the season. The Triple Bill now on offer demands from each of its exponents a mathematical brain, the precision of a Swiss watchmaker and the stamina of a fell runner.