Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Gerhard Siegel

Sir David McVicar's classic staging of The Magic Flute, now over 20 years old, shines afresh in a stylish performance conducted by Marie Jacquot, making her Covent Garden debut.  

Claus Guth's new production at the Metropolitan Opera, originally seen at the Bolshoi in 2021, moves the action from biblical Judea to the era of the opera's composition. 

A memorable, impassioned performance of Arnold Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder in Disney Hall. 

Already a psychodrama as written, the Salome according to Cyril Teste takes us deeper into what makes the protagonist – or is she a tragic heroine? – into who she is.

Die Verurteilung des Lukullus, Paul Dessau and Bertolt Brecht's political satire about a Roman general judged for his deeds after death, has lost none of its relevance in Staatsoper Stuttgart's new production. 

Damiano Michieletto's production does not let the viewer rest easy even when the opera has ended.

Despite theatrical drawbacks, this Wozzeck is heartily recommended due to Yannick Nézet-Séguin's staggering understanding of all facets of Berg's score.

Young musicians and experienced stars combine for a thrilling Frau in its centenary year

Müpa's Ring sees all-round musical excellence for a third night in row, which will be remembered more than the various distracting miscues in the staging.

Hartmut Schörghofer's updated concert staging receives strong singing from everyone and a thrilling orchestral performance.

Designer/director Antony McDonald treads a perfectly weighted path between light and dark of the fairytale; conductor Sebastian Weigle cooks up a Wagnerian storm; Michaela Schuster steals the show. A treat.

Wagner's storytelling shines brightly with the aid of a cast well out of the ordinary. Vinke, Stemme, Siegel and Lundgren make part 3 of The Ring an unforgettable evening of opera.

Antonio Pappano and the Royal Opera Orchestra get the Ring cycle off to a blazing start; unusually, it's Lise Davidsen and the female cast who take the vocal honours.

Sir Mark Elder and The Hallé orchestra are the powerhouse in a memorable performance of Siegfried. Simon O’ Neill, Iain Paterson and Christine Goerke head up a universally strong cast.

The Cleveland Orchestra celebrated its 100th anniversary with a memorable concert performance of Tristan und Isolde with magnificent Nina Stemme.

Hans Neuenfels new Salome proves a strangely non-committal affair at the Staatsoper, but Thomas Guggeis conducts impressively.

The third installment of Semperoper Dresden’s Ring des Nibelungen cycle ups the ante with an outstanding ensemble performance.

Wagner demands vocal resilience from the large cast of singers in Das Rheingold, but Willy Decker wants strong thigh muscles as well.

A skilfully constructed production, and one that plays with the our perspectives. Whether the images are flashbacks from a war-troubled Wozzeck or a Büchner-esque portent of the horrors to come is left for the audience to decide.

Like most honest listeners I crave a taste of turpitude in Salome.

The Met revived Jurgen Flimm's modern production of Salome, with Patricia Racette making a successfu last minute role debut in the title role.

Detlev Glanert's first religious composition, a staggering Requiem for solo voices, two choirs and orchestra, pits the demonic against the angelic, and is worthy of the genius it celebrates.

Strauss' penultimate opera is treated to a lavish if superficial staging at the Salzburg Festival, but the real rewards come from the musical performance of this unjustly neglected work.

Budapest's Wagner Festival opens with an excellent Rheingold in a skilful combination of singing, acting and projections.

Bringing out the unabashed colour and detail of the score, Andrew Davis delivered a superb reading in the pit, tightly coherent and with exemplary attentiveness to articulation. 

Andris Nelsons, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Christine Goerke give a breathtaking, frenzied performance of Strauss's hate-filled opera, whose score still jars today.

The child-woman Lulu is a reflective receptacle for desire in Dutch National Opera’s extraordinary filmic production.

This production came together brilliantly to illustrate the story of Das Rheingold. But the star of the show was MüPa’s Béla Bartók Hall, with its extraordinary acoustic.

Director Keith Warner's Royal Opera production of Berg's Wozzeck makes a truly cathartic experience that fully deserved the long ovation it received, with strong performances from Simoin Keenlyside and Karita Mattila.

My mother always told me not to sit too close in the theatre, and after seeing this revival of Martin Kusej’s modern realization of Stravinksy’s The Rake’s Progress at the Theater an der Wien, I think I know what she was talking about.Act I begins innocuously enough in a sparse apartment, unfurnished apart from a mattress and a television.

All things considered, this Met Siegfried was a mixed affair. There was much to enjoy and much to marvel at; there were times where the performance felt as if it might achieve real lift-off, but it never quite achieved the sustained momentum of Friday's Walküre.

Quite simply, it’s the largest scale event in all of opera. With 18 hours of music in a 3,800 seat house, Wagner’s Ring Cycle at the Met is a giant, lavish undertaking – all starting with that famous E flat chord: starting from the quietest of pianissimo double bass notes and building for nearly four minutes before it explodes into the melody of the Rhinemaidens.

Read our review of  Robert Lepage's production of Wagner­'s Siegfried in its 2011 broadcast from the Met Opera in New York.

Read our review of Robert Lepage's production of Das Rheingold by Wagner, in its 2010 broadcast from the Met Opera in New York.

Over a hundred years after its première, Richard Strauss's opera Salome retains its ability to shock. The opera was adapted from Oscar Wilde's retelling of the biblical tale, in which Herod's daughter demands and receives the head of the prophet Jokanaan (John the Baptist) on a silver charger.

Sternstunde mit Diana Damrau: Münchens neue Marschallin veredelt den Rosenkavalier von Barrie Kosky.

Très attendue depuis son annulation pour cause de Covid-19, la Tétralogie selon Calixto Bieito déçoit grandement pour son premier épisode, et ni la fosse ni la distribution vocale ne compensent cet échec.

In Cyril Testes Inszenierung setzt Camilla Nylund als Salome nicht nur gesanglich zu neuen Höhenflügen an...

Le Staatsoper Stuttgart a livré une splendide version de concert de l'œuvre de Strauss avec un Cornelius Meister remarquable à la baguette, un orchestre exemplaire et de très grands chanteurs.

Jan Lauwers inszeniert Ligetis Le Grand Macabre als durch-choreographierte Komödie mit hohem Unterhaltungswert.

In einer packenden konzertanten Aufführung war Wagners Rheingold unter Yannick Nézet-Séguin vom Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra außergewöhnlich expressiv und mit exzellenten Sängerdarstellern in Baden-Baden zu erleben.

Le très grand Wozzeck de Bastille ne se contente pas de faire écho à l'actualité : il brille surtout par une esthétique glaçante et une équipe mémorable.

Belle reprise de La Khovantchina à l'Opéra Bastille, où triomphent les forces de la maison, mais aussi Anita Rachvelishvili !

Die Hamburger Symphoniker brachten unter Markus Stenz Detlev Glanerts Requiem für Hieronymus Bosch zusammen mit der Europa Chor Akademie auf die Bühne der Elbphilharmonie.

Im Siegfried geht der Ring als Scherzo weiter und trägt dem mit ironischen Bildern Rechnung. 

Bei der Jubiläumsserie der Ariadne auf Naxos an der Wiener Staatsoper will trotz teils starker Gesangsleistungen keine wirkliche Feierstimmung aufkommen.