Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Georg Nigl

A long stellar night of supremely assured singing and playing in Wagner's Siegfried, with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle on top form.

An energized cast delivers in a visually eye-popping production as Monteverdi's opera appears at the Haus am Ring for the very first time. 

A superb cast of singers is let down by Christoph Marthaler's cold, stilted staging as Reimann's Lear returns to its birthplace.  

Ravel and Pintscher's own music were juxtaposed on this programme from Amsterdam. 

Challenging and vivid Bach in the first UK showing of Peter Sellars' staging of Bach's great liturgical masterpiece.

A flamboyant production and a wonderful cast of singers seals a big success for this gem of the early Baroque.

In the hands of director Hans Neuenfels, the Swiss première of Manfred Trojahn’s Orest was widely anticipated for its “splashes of gore and commensurate splatters of sound”.

Sasha Waltz’s new production of Monteverdi’s Orfeo saw a fusion of sound and movement at the Muziektheater Amsterdam, with dancers and singers twining together almost indistinguishably.

The inability of human beings to communicate or even empathise, and the monstrous consequences that gap in misunderstanding leads to, is the foundational idea of Die Eroberung von Mexico, and Wolfgang Rihm’s dense and frequently brilliant music.

It’s never an easy thing to jump in for a concert, especially not when there is a historical instrument involved. The sign on the door of the Wiener Konzerthaus upon our arrival Monday evening, explaining that Vanessa Wagner had to cancel her part as pianist at the last minute and would be replaced by Gérard Wyss, did not bode well.

The plight of the introvert, stigmatised by society despite the many benefits of their contemplative natures and inner strength, is an important part of the contemporary Zeitgeist, but it is in fact nothing new.

Friedrich Nietzsche’s life was not that of an isolated contemplative but rather full of personal frustration, eventually ending in syphilitic madness. While his work has been often linked with music--most notably in his relationship with Wagner and Richard Strauss’s tone poem based on Also sprach Zarathustra--making his life into an opera may seem a dubious proposition.

Jossi Wieler und Sergio Morabito überraschen mit einer emotionsgeladenen und zeitgemäßen Inszenierung von Claudio Monteverdis Dramma per musica.

Wagner-Gesang vom Feinsten und das BR-Symphonieorchester auf Opernkurs: am dritten Abend des Rings strahlten goldener Klang der Musiker und die Mienen überwältigter Zuhörer um die Wette.

La meticulosa dirección de García Alarcón y la cuidada propuesta de Sasha Waltz redundan en un espectáculo en el que la centralidad de la música se ve reforzada por una coreografía que construye el espacio y las relaciones entre personajes.

La saison bruxelloise s'ouvre sur un événement : la création de Macbeth Underworld de Pascal Dusapin. L'œuvre inégale est portée par la mise en scène de Thomas Jolly et la performance des solistes.

Sellars und Rattle schaffen einen Raum und Klang, der Bach mit seiner Deutung einer der bekanntesten Erzählungen der Welt lebendig werden lässt.

Retour de Romeo Castellucci à La Monnaie, pour une Flûte enchantée attendue avec impatience. On s'attendait à une mise en scène non conventionnelle. On fut servi.

Andrea Breth geht mit ihrer Inszenierung bis an die Grenzen und schafft einen Abend extremer Emotionen.

L’affiche regroupe dans un diptyque inattendu Il Prigioniero de Luigi Dallapiccola et Das Gehege (L’Enclos) de Rihm. Deux opéras qui posent les bonnes questions.

Der neue Chefdirigent bot in seinem ersten Konzert seit seiner Ernennung einen Abend voller musikalischer Wunder.

Die Festwochen präsentieren unter der musikalischen Leitung von Marc Minkowski Achim Freyers Inszenierung des Beethoven-Klassikers.