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Omer Meir Wellber makes his first appearance with the BBC Philharminic since the announcement of his appointment as Chief Conductor Designate.

In a fin de siècle programme, Salonen and the Philharmonia demonstrated visceral excitement, and found ways to reinvent. 

This was a superbly assured performance in which Esa-Pekka Salonen marshalled his forces with a clear-sighted vision to carve out an account brimming with intensity, energy and commitment.

Sven-Eric Bechtolf’s minimalist staging brought the protagonists’ complicated psychological interaction into focus but to the detriment of Wagner’s myth and magic.

Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra lit up Zurich’s historic Tonhalle with a stellar double-bill of Mendelssohn and Mahler.

Despite a condescending commentary, a strong performance from Anja Kampe as Leonore made this concert staging of Fidelio at the Royal Festival Hall thoroughly enjoyable.

Superb Schubert followed by some altogether more mysterious and disorientating Mahler makes for a Sunday night treat at the Royal Festival Hall with the Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Josep Pons. 

Robert Dean Smith replacing an ailing tenor as Lohengrin was merely adequate but the rest of the cast and the superb orchestra made the modern production of Lohengrin in Munich memorable.

In Rotterdam, Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts a gracefully contoured Beethoven Sixth Symphony and, together with fabulous vocal and instrumental soloists, reaches core-deep into Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde.

Jane Archibald and Ruxandra Donose provide a compelling prologue to Ariadne auf Naxos, while Karita Mattila's majestic performance lights up the opera seria second half.

The Philharmonia Orchestra celebrated its 70th birthday with a gala comprising Schumann’s Piano Concerto and Beethoven’s Choral Symphony, conducted by the orchestra's Honorary Conductor for Life, Christoph von Dohnányi

The première of a bold new work by Luke Bedford was the highlight in a Prom concert that otherwise lacked impact and focus. 

The bright colours and childishness of Konwitschny’s production for the Bayerische Staatsoper shock but succeed. The cast and orchestra shine, especially in the final act.

Nina Stemme leads a successful revival of the Schenk production with a brilliant orchestra led by a passionate Ádám Fischer.

The music makes this an enchanting Die Frau ohne Schatten, even if Warlikowski’s fantastical production remains an unsolved puzzle.

Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts the Philharmonia in a fine account of Mahler's mighty “Symphony of a Thousand”, culminating in a dramatic realisation of Faust's redemption.

Les occasions d’entendre les Gurrelieder d’Arnold Schönberg ne sont pas si fréquentes.

Video artist Bill Viola fills Tristan und Isolde with mesmerising images. Peter Sellars stages and Marc Piollet conducts a cast where King Marke reigns, at the Teatro Real in Madrid.

In Act II of Tannhäuser, Hermann, Landgrave of Thuringia, sets the theme of the singing contest that is about to take place in his hall by asking: “Can you describe love’s nature to me?” To some extent, the entire opera is an examination of two very different answers to that question.

When audiences first heard Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde, they were stunned by the sustained, passionate eroticism of the score, with the musicians amongst them amazed by the variety of novel compositional devices.

The Strauss opera Ariadne auf Naxos was inspired by the Moliere play The Middle-Class Gentleman. The richest man in Vienna has arranged for two entertainments--one a serious opera composed by a young man just for the occasion, and the other an Italian comedy group. He decides at the last minute to combine the two into one entertainment. If he were a proper gentleman, he would know better.

Tumblers and fire jugglers in rainbow colors. Singing nymphs soaring for stories into the air. Arias deeply dramatic and broadly comic. The Metropolitan Opera’s interpretation of Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss is a magical mashup of modern and classic, seria and buffa, technique and technology that pleases but falls short of terrific for this reviewer.

Read our review of Dieter Dorn's production of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde in its 2008 broadcast from the Met Opera in New York.

In einem bewegenden Konzert präsentiert das Orchester Werke Schuberts und Mahlers, deren Tonsprache gemeinsame Wurzeln im Lied hat.

In der Dirndl-Inszenierung von Andreas Homoki liefern Robert Dean Smith und Annette Dasch einen gepflegten Repertoireabend.

Retour sur un concert aux forts échos politiques contemporains et conçu comme une manifeste pour la paix.

Après le déroutant caprice d’un Kaufmann au TCE, et quelques mois avant le pari monstrueux de l’ONF de le faire retentir sous la voûte de Saint-Denis, le Chant de la Terre s'offrait les services du Budapest Festival Orchestra et de son distingué chef Iván Fischer. C'était à la Philharmonie.

La venue de l’Orchestre Philharmonique de Rotterdam au Théâtre des Champs-Elysées est depuis plusieurs années l’un des événements parmi les plus attendus de la saison symphonique parisienne. Encore une fois, un grand moment musical fut au rendez-vous.

Une impression mitigée pour cette reprise d'une mise en scène de 2007 ; les seconds rôles et l'orchestre sont de très grande qualité, mais les rôles titres sont un peu décevants.