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

Contemporary programming at this year's festival brings a sensitive social issue close to home, culminating in Judith Markovich's “Oh, my son…” 

A disappointing decision to downplay the ghosts and uneven performances made for a difficult and distracting in situ staging of Britten's adaptation of the classic Henry James thriller. 

Two charming operas featured splendid singing in a haze of choreography, staging and projections in a setting that had the feel of being live in a surround sound movie theater. 

The opera, directed by Mary Birnbaum, rotates through a cast of characters including Tonic, Dominant, and Subdominant as well as a be-wigged Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.

Benjamin Britten’s 1954 opera The Turn of the Screw is a sensible choice for the New York City Opera: its chamber orchestration and emotional intimacy make it unsuitable for production by the Met Opera (against which every other company in town must define itself), and its claustrophobia would seem to offer a great opportunity for one of the company’s more innovative directors to create something