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John Dexter's production, now among the longest-serving in the company's repertory, remains a marvel of simple, effective storytelling.

John Wilson and the Sinfonia of London give a masterclass in musical perfection in works by Walton, Ravel, Gershwin and Dutilleux.

Soprano and mezzo Natalya Romaniw and Alice Coote top a strong line-up in Verdi's Requiem in Manchester's Bridgewater Hall.

Dead air swallows the acoustic, so it’s no wonder this orchestra and choir is busy raising funds to build its own concert hall in Oslo.

A memorable performance of Mahler's epic Third Symphony at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall.

Pianist Julius Drake and his two singers probe the audience’s collective soul with the depth of their Mahler performances. 

Alice Coote is totally mesmerising in Britten's cantata Phaedra in a concert stream from London's Southbank.  

Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla approached the Eighth with a clear vision of the music’s structure and a plan to free the life that teems beneath its mighty vaults.

Tilson Thomas has form with Berlioz: the full forces of the LSO and London Symphony Chorus built up to a noble blaze

Mark Elder conducts Mahler 2 with The Hallé in a measured but utterly compelling performance at Bridgewater Hall

A revival of Richard Jones’ production of Handel’s emotionally probing opera. 

There was a tingle to this concert, as if musicians and audience alike saw clearly for the first time what riches lie ahead.

Laurent Pelly’s staging provided some of the most memorable moments in this performance of Cendrillon. 

Adès opera resists explanation, and the ambiguity of the story drives much of its compelling nature. 

A strong cast led by Anna Stéphany's Sesto made the most of the last opportunity to hear Glyndebourne's production of Mozart's final opera.

A grimly dark setting for Mozart's final opera, Sesto and Tito haunted by childhood memories. 

Sir Mark Elder's 70th birthday Gurre-Lieder threatens to dislodge the roof in Manchester with the combined forces of the Hallé and BBC Philharmonic

A probing, exultant and musically tireless performance from The English COncert.

Mozart's Idomeneo proved to be a challenge for some of the soloists initially but the superb orchestra under James Levine brought about a successful opening evening at the Met.

Renée Fleming has decided the time is right to bow out gracefully from the operatic stage, choosing her signature role to bid the fondest of farewells to London.

A strange combination of a Berlioz overture, a commemorative work and Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde with the Hallé, Sir Mark Elder, Alice Coote, Gregory Kunde and Leonard Elschenbroich.

A well-crafted programme at Symphony Hall showcasing the best of English music from the first half of the last century.

The sheer contrast between each movement, the ferocity of the orchestra and the dynamism of Vasily Petrenko made for a whirlpool of a performance – dangerous, dark and occasionally tranquil. 

With clear direction and well-executed hits (such as the lush trio from the end of the third act), the show will appeal to those with nostalgia for the production and wish to escape the biting cold with the sound of strings warmed by horns.

Sir Mark Elder conducts the Hallé in a fine account of Verdi's Requiem at the Bridgewater Hall

The English Concert play beautifully, the chorus is in superb voice, but a disjointed cast of unconvincing singers mean Hercules never reaches heroic heights.

Alice Coote and Elizabeth Watts soar gloriously from the emotional heart of Mahler's Resurrection Symphony in a powerful performance from the LPO directed by Andrés Orozco-Estrada.

A star-studded Alcina delights at the Barbican, though remains less than the sum of its considerable parts. 

One of the pleasures of the BBC Proms is to survey the current state of our regional orchestras and I was really looking forward to the Hallé's visit with Mark Elder. Yet, at the end of the concert, I felt curiously unfulfilled.

A fine cast and a traditional staging of a beloved classic results in a memorable night at the opera.

A superb concert performance of Der Rosenkavalier with the CBSO and Andris Nelsons receives a rapturous reception. 

What happens when a hero comes home? The exploration of this question forms the basis of director Peter Sellars’ new production of Hercules at the Canadian Opera Company.

Known as “the most European of American orchestras,” Cleveland’s stellar ensemble is usually at its most interesting when a European conductor comes to town. But this was more a case of the orchestra maintaining its standards despite, not because of, a visiting maestro. 

Nathaniel Merrill’s production of Der Rosenkavalier opened at the Metropolitan Opera on 23 January 1969. Richard Nixon had been sworn in as President as the United States only a few days earlier. It is still in the repertory today, here revived with Edward Gardner conducting.

32-year-old Nico Muhly recently tweeted “I'm obsessed with people asking why I must write such ‘atonal music.

The return of Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann to the stage of San Francisco Opera on Wednesday night was a welcome and long overdue event.

Read our review of David McVicar's production of Handel's Giulio Cesare in its 2013 broadcast from the Met Opera in New York.

David McVicar’s Giulio Cesare is still riotous at the Met, the production having transferred from Glyndebourne. This is a delicious, smart production, then, with interest for the brain, ears, and eyes alike.

By adding Schubert’s Winterresie to her repertoire Alice Coote joins a long tradition of female interpreters including the likes of Christine Schäfer and her own mentor Brigitte Fassbaender. In this performance of Schubert’s great song cycle, however, it was the piano playing of Julius Drake, rather than Coote’s singing, which penetrated to the heart of the work.

22 November 2012 would have been Benjamin Britten’s 99th birthday. Wigmore Hall marked the occasion with the first concert in a series of nine events in November and December. However, rather than focusing exclusively on Britten’s music, it built towards the climax that saw Britten’s angst-ridden late masterpiece Phaedra searingly performed.

Drawing names such as Sarah Connolly and Dame Felicity Lott to the dreaming spires, the Oxford Lieder Festival has defined itself as a leading musical exponent on an international level. It was fitting, then, that Alice Coote and Julius Drake should open the final weekend of the eleventh festival.

Marian Anderson, the famed African-American contralto, once remarked of Kathleen Ferrier, “My God, what a voice – and what a face!” This concert was a Centenary Celebration of Ferrier’s art at the Wigmore Hall, and I reflected (not for the first time) how aptly Anderson’s words could also apply to Alice Coote, the evening’s distinguished soloist.

If you’ve never been to a grand-scale choral work at the Royal Albert Hall, I’d urge you to do so at the earliest opportunity. This wasn’t my first visit to the Proms, and I’ve experienced oratorios, requiems and passions galore in other places, but to hear hundreds of accomplished singers filling this vast circular space was new territory for me. The hall seemed made for the occasion.

Elgar’s oratorios The Apostles (1903) and The Kingdom (1906) are the manifestation of a fascination that he had held since his childhood in Worcester.

The gist of Ariadne auf Naxos, Richard Strauss’ opera-within-an-opera, is this: a demanding patron insists on having his entertainment for a given evening – a burlesque act and an opera – combined into one work, greatly upsetting the archetypal “serious artist” composer of the opera.

I once heard a lecture by Gérard Mortier, then head of the Paris Opera, contrasting the twin operatic traditions starting from Monteverdi's serious and affecting dramma per musica and the lavish court entertainments of Lully. A couple of centuries on, there's no need to ask the side of the fence on which Massenet's Cendrillon falls.

Ancient Greek superheroes – irresistible. Half god, half man, incredible deeds leave Perseus, Theseus, and of course Hercules enough to rival Superman, Spiderman, and The Incredible Hulk. Small wonder then why these demigods and precursor of the modern comic book superhero have captivated the hearts and minds of many of the world’s greatest writers, dramatists and composers.

Read our review of  Richard Jones' production of Engelbert Humperdinck's Hansel und Gretel in its 2008 broadcast from the Met Opera in New York.

Beklemmend, aber auch komisch zeigt Kosky, wie wirkungsvoll Betrug doch ist; Ähnlichkeiten mit lebenden Personen sind dabei nicht beabsichtigt, aber unvermeidlich.