Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Louise Alder

Mariame Clément is a popular director at Glyndebourne, and her new production of Figaro shows her trademark approach to hardhitting comedy.

Evgeny Titov's new production is heavy on the jokes and light in substance, but delights anyway thanks to its high-class cast. 

Louise Alder shines as Cleopatra, one of Baroque opera’s greatest creations, in the fourth Glyndebourne revival of Sir David McVicar's much-loved production. 

Take a fine orchestra and an equally fine chorus, together with three contrasting soloists, and for content the greatest story ever: all the ingredients to bring alive Haydn's The Creation.

The flourishing partnership between Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra continues to be vital in both senses of the word. 

Sumptuous Wagner and effortless Mahler from the Bayrisches Staatsorchester, cleanly expressive Schumann from Yefim Bronfman and richly communicative singing from Louise Alder. 

It's been in the Glyndebourne rep for almost fifty years, but John Cox's production, complete with Hockney's iconic set, remains timeless. Robin Ticciati's superb conducting and an excellent cast made this latest revival a complete success.

The massed ranks of the LSO, the London Symphony and CBSO Choruses, Dame Sarah Connolly and Louise Alder gather for a staggering Mahler 2 at the BBC Proms. 

Soprano Louise Alder explored the dying embers of the Romantic movement in a sensitive performance of Vier letzte Lieder.

A well-sung revival of Jonathan Miller's Bohème at the coliseum fails to catch fire.

Louise Alder and Roger Vignoles offer French charm in their return to Wigmore Hall.

A witty, insightful production at the Coliseum fizzes with comedy and pathos. 

Soloists and choir, headed by a spellbinding Christian Gerhaher, brought real lustre to Schumann’s treatment of Goethe’s magnum opus.

The final day of Oxford Lieder's 80-event festival was framed by two recitals taking us from the world of German folklore andDes Knaben Wunderhorn, to the pain and drama of romantic entanglements. 

Kasper Holten's psychological take on the louche lothario remains controversial, but in its third revival, Erwin Schrott's powerful assumption of the title role is a delight.

I wanted to hear more from Louise Alder, but that was true of each of the four singers.

Rising like a phoenix, the Alexandra Palace Theatre stages its first opera since its reopening after eighty years of slumber. 

A classy and charming adventure through Gilbert & Sullivan with the OAE and John Wilson .

Mark-Anthony Turnage's First World War opera both moves and dazzles at the Barbican.

Jonathan Cohen leads a sensitive performance by Arcangelo, with a line-up of five outstanding lyrical voices. 

The effervescent John Wilson and his orchestra make Bernstein's musical sparks fly.

A twist on the usual Enlightenment path, this is an admirable production, excellently executed.

Harry Bicket leads Royal Northern Sinfonia and Chorus and a fine line-up of soloists in a performance that moves effortlessly between the human and eternal time lines of Bach's St John Passion.

Ian Page's new ensemble kicked off with a feisty performance of Mozart's Symphony No. 29 and Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra with two splendid arias sung by Louise Alder.

We anticipated a Ukrainian barihunk singing Tchaikovsky, but ended up with an English rose singing Strauss.

Skelton's Florestan provides the power in a refined, elegant performance that brings out the beauty in Beethoven's score.

Sublime orchestral playing and stellar soloists don't quite make up for a lacklustre performance by the Academy's choir in Monteverdi's moving work

A thrilling finale to the 2017 Cardiff Singer of the World

Gloriously sung and stylishly played, this Rosenkavalier is a feast for the ears and eyes and should be heard without delay. 

A lack of inspiration and dull staging is a serious hindrance to the second of Glyndebourne's touring productions.

An opportunity for the human voice to shine in works by Mahler and Mozart, performed by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ilan Volkov, with an opening work by Gérard Grisey.

Mozart's messy monster of an opera gets a brutalist tidy-up at Garsington, but the determinedly straightforward reading only makes this work's innate problems more obvious. 

To mark the centenary of the Battle of the Somme, Mark Elder and the London Symphony Orchestra brought together music with a connection to the First World War.

Romanian conductor Cristian Măcelaru was rapturously received as guest conductor for this brilliantly original and eclectic programme with the Hallé. 

A somewhat overly manic production of Luigi Rossi's version of the Orpheus tale, originally written for the French court in 1647, is lit up by some great singing and a show-stealing comic performance by Graeme Broadbent.

The Rape of Lucretia may be something of a problem piece, but Fiona Shaw's production is an excellent piece of ensemble theatre set around some very fine performances of music of rare beauty.

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.

Glyndebourne’s annual away day from Lewes to the heaving metropolis is always a highlight of the Proms season, but this year’s visit was more hotly anticipated than usual. 

Imeneo (1740), Handel’s penultimate opera, is atypical on several fronts. It’s relatively short by Handel’s standards (three acts, under two hours of music); the plot is thin, but not as absurd or complicated as those of some of his other operas (there are no disguises, for example); the title role is composed for a bass; and the opera has a chorus which participates in the plot, rather than just

Purcell’s The Fairy Queen is a tricky thing to stage. It’s not an opera, with its own story-line, but a masque, a series of musical interludes intended to slot into a performance of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. One solution could be just to perform it in concert, but the music is so dramatic that it lends itself wonderfully to stage action.

Barrie Koskys Inszenierung begeistert vor allem mit der brillanten Personenregie. Musikalisch lässt der Abend leider Wünsche offen.

An der Bayerischen Staatsoper brilliert ein hochkarätiges Mozart-Ensemble in einem so enttäuschenden, wie trostlosem Regiekonzept.

Evgeny Titovs Inszenierung und Stefano Montanaris energiegeladenes Dirigat machen große Lust, sich in Mozarts oft gespielte Oper wieder zu vertiefen.

El concierto en Madrid de la Filarmónica de Berlín con Kirill Petrenko al frente y un programa únicamente de obras de Mozart cerró la temporada de Ibermúsica.

Mozart und Schumann mit einer glänzender Solistin, einem mitreißenden Chor und jubelnden Philharmonikern.

Im Gegensatz zu Benedict Andrews’ fast nihilistischer Beziehungssicht besticht Vladimir Jurowski in seiner ersten Münchner Mozart-Produktion durch feinen Klangintellekt.

Ein opulenter Augenschmaus mit einem großartigen jungen Mozart-Ensemble.

Claus Guth nos traslada a un entorno sombrío y lúgubre para narrar las horas finales de un Don Giovanni herido de muerte.

Die Oper Frankfurt bereitet wieder einen ihrer ungewöhnlichen Doppel-Opernabende, diesmal im Bockenheimer Depot.