Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Asko|Schönberg

Gorgeous music by Mary Finsterer and an evocative setting by Elizabeth Gadsby transport you to the ends of the earth.

For a programme given by Asko|Schönberg at the Concertgebouw, Hans Abrahamsen’s choice of his own works spans an important and transitory period of creative stillness.  

Louis Andriessen’s new opera is a masterly expedition into the grand and grotesque mind of Athanasius Kircher, polymath and fantastist, but it is hampered by a clumsy libretto.

Arnoud Noordegraaf’s As Big as the Sky received more than the usual attention at the Holland Festival due to his collaboration with Ai Weiwei.

A Dog's Life – Frederic Rzewski's 2nd Piano Concerto – is full of playful detail, but a little too long.

Martijn Padding's opera Laika is let down by its libretto, which illustrates that though authors may write successful novels, this doesn’t necessarily imply they can also produce good theatre texts.

Asko|Schönberg presents exciting new works by Wagemans and Kulenty. 

Portugese composer Vasco Mendonça presents in Luxembourg his new opera, based on the masterly tale by Julio Cortázar.

Asko|Schönberg are respected pioneers of the new music scene, but this concert in Utrecht found them in less well-travelled territory: music by Debussy and Ravel. This proved a disappointing mismatch of repertoire.

Asko|Schönberg, ensemble in residence at the Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, opened the first edition of the Young Pianists Festival with a concert featuring two piano concertos, by György Ligeti and Klaas de Vries. The Dutch composer wrote his Second Piano Concerto for Daniël van der Hoeven, who won the Young Pianists Competition three years ago.

The Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, Amsterdam’s foremost modern classical music venue, opened the music season with a day dedicated to percussion. The first concert included Stravinsky’s Suite from L’histoire du soldat (1918) and Varèse’s Ionisation (1929-31) and Hyperprism (1922-23).

Minimal music, the rhythm- and/or repetition-focused classical genre from the later 20th century, is well represented at Amsterdam's Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ. This will surely come to a climax during the 2013 edition of the biannual World Minimal Music Festival, but as Marinissen of Lunapark stated before this warm-up edition: "We just couldn't wait".

The Koorbiënnale in Haarlem is a biannual festival, organized for the sixth time this year. The opening night consisted of four exciting modern pieces and the world premiere of a new work by the Latvian composer Ēriks Eŝenvalds. The first piece played was Daan Manneke’s Topos for chorus and harmonium. It is a song cycle set to four poems by Arthur Rimbaud.

La opresión y el desasosiego de la obra de Jamie Man se extienden desde el escenario hasta el patio de butacas envolviendo todo en una densa niebla de turbación.

Ein erfrischendes Konzerterlebnis mit Bierdosen, Socken und Zahnbürsten.

Asko|Schönberg zeigt in seinem Programm die Vielschichtigkeit des kanadischen Komponisten Claude Vivier.

Georges Aperghis' Die Hamletmaschine-Oratorio ist ein intensiv anstrengendes Werk, aber ebenso ein tiefsinniger Kunstgenuss.

Die Niederländische Komponistin Mayke Nas erfindet neue Klänge, um unsere heutige Zeit mit musikalischen Mitteln zu beschreiben.

Katrien Baerts und die Musiker vom Asko|Schönberg zischten und swingten um die Wette, dass es vom ersten Moment an ein ansteckender musikalischer Genuss war.

Amsterdam hat ein neues Festival, dessen erste Edition György Ligeti gewidmet ist, und bei dem Pierre-Laurent Aimard im Mittelpunkt des Klavierkonzertes stand.

Des réfugiés anonymes rejetés sur la plage d’un luxueux complexe hôtelier ; ainsi l’enfer surgit-il à l’improviste aux portes du paradis terrestre. Un langage coloré qui masque tout sauf les vulgarités de la bourgeoisie autoproclamée : c’est loin d’être le seul contraste sur lequel surfe Bosch beach.