Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Dame Sarah Connolly

Mahler's Song of the Earth fits the bill of the Philharmonia's “Human/Nature: Music for a Precious Planet” series, and Xian Zhang has no need to hold the orchestra back! 

A varied programme of harpsichord pieces interleaves with songs from Shakespeare and the following century.

Song cycles by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Ernest Chausson are paired at the Barbican.

Dame Sarah Connolly and David Butt Philip prove that less really can be more.

Impressive control from Vladimir Jurowski and his LPO forces in Mahler's great work about death and resurrection, but with obvious clinical detachment too.

Warmly affectionate Vaughan Williams contrasting with angular and psychologically charged Wood, followed by an emotional performance of Elgar's The Music Makers.

Carsen's scaled-down Ring makes a timely comeback with a melancholy message of decay.

Fine orchestral sound and outstanding solo singing from Sarah Connolly and Steve Davislim aren't enough to compensate for poor balance and timing in Beethoven's great choral work.

Stuart Skelton and Sarah Connolly were the stars of the evening, lifting the performance to a new level in what Leonard Bernstein called Mahler’s “greatest symphony”.

We start with a triumphant Royal Opera debut from Stuart Skelton, we close with Nina Stemme at her finest; a thrilling orchestral performance links the two. A memorable Walküre.

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.

A quartet of superb soloists shine through an orchestral and choral performance of great precision to bring out Verdi’s powerful evocation of the terror of eternal damnation.

The perfect invitation to daydream on a hot afternoon. 

Interviewed at the time of this production's first outing, McVicar declared that “Entertainment is not a dirty word”. His Giulio Cesare remains a hugely entertaining opera production.

The 2011 Lyon production, with an excellent orchestral and vocal performance, brings an austerely moonlit version of Tristan und Isolde to Barcelona.

Das Lied von der Erde may have been down-sized but it lost none of its stature in the Aurora Orchestra’s performance of a chamber arrangement of Mahler’s great song-symphony.

Dame Sarah Connolly and Julius Drake savour the al fresco surrounds of the Villa Foce to produce a delightful evening of eclectic music in four languages. Delizioso!

Brett Dean treats Shakespeare's behemoth as a timeless story told in language that has become timeless; no effort is spared in elucidating and amplifying that story.

A packed recital given by mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly at Brighton Festival.   

James Conlon led the CSO in Schubert’s Unfinished symphony and Mahler’s Das Lied von der Lied.  Mixed fortunes were had for the singers in the latter, but Conlon and the orchestra provided probing performances throughout.

A disappointing pairing of Berlioz and Mendelssohn from a conductorless Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. 

William Kentridge's Lulu for ENO is easier to admire than it is to love. But if you want to be challenged dramatically, this is the opera to do it.

Bernard Haitink doesn't disappoint in a mature, considered reading of Mahler's epic Third Symphony. 

Singing, orchestral playing and scenic portrayal all combine to make a highly memorable second instalment of Wagner's Ring.

Bayreuth's controversial Ring returns with a new conductor and a refreshed cast.

Johan Reuter leads an all star cast in a revelatory performance of George Enescu's masterpiece, aided by spectacular La Fura dels Baus staging.

The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment takes on its biggest ever challenge under the baton of Vladimir Jurowski.

Sir Simon and Berln Philharmonic triumphed in a thought-provoking production of Tristan und Isolde with a fine ensemble of singers.

As part of their blockbuster festival programme Simon Rattle and his brawny Berliners offered Beethoven’s Ninth in a monumental performance. 

Richard Jones creates forceful theatre by staging Ariodante as a tale of shaming and abuse. Andrea Marcon conducts an accomplished cast and the first-class Concerto Köln.

In Rotterdam, Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts a gracefully contoured Beethoven Sixth Symphony and, together with fabulous vocal and instrumental soloists, reaches core-deep into Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde.

A report from the 2015 Three Choirs Festival, held this year in the cathedral city of Hereford. 

Toby Spence and Sarah Connolly make splendid soulful companions and conductor Peter Oundjian brings a resonant depth to Elgar's period-piece in a fine end to the RSNO's season.

Two classic scores by Berlioz and a musical memorial to Bliss’ brother made a deep impression. 

Orient meets Occident in three performances of English works conducted by the Japanese maestro Tadaaki Otaka.

A clever programme of mid-20th century American music by Carter, Copland and contemporaries, watered down with a light sprinkling of Arlen and Gershwin.

First class performances from Stephen Gould and Nina Stemme are backed by a magnificent orchestral performance in the Royal Opera's revival of Christof Loy's spartan production.

In the spirit of Hallowe'en, Mahler’s Second Symphony focuses on the idea of Zombification; however, any mention of eating brains didn’t pass Mahler’s final edits. 

Detailed, transparent readings from the London Sinfonietta brought out the modernist in early Schoenberg, but passion and atmosphere were lacking.

An imaginative and wonderfully performed programme of ecclesiastical works wrought in peril, alienation and exile.

The BBC Symphony Orchestra première the first of two late works by John Tavener this Proms season and Isabelle Faust excels in Bartók and Bach. 

Whooping horns, a single yellow rose and a velvety cushion of strings set the scene for a sumptuous tranche of highlights from Der Rosenkavalier in the London Symphony Orchestra’s latest concert commemorating Richard Strauss in his 150th anniversary year.

Richard Egarr leads the Academy of Ancient Music and a stellar team of vocal soloists in an unapologetically lush and dramatic St Matthew Passion.

Edward Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius tells the story of a pious man’s death, his travels through Purgatory and finally being accepted into Heaven. It is perhaps not the most dramatic of tales, but one filled with a sense of redemption and intense spirituality. 

Yannick Nézet-Séguin explores the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s palette in an intoxicating French programme, celebrating the restoration of the Royal Festival Hall’s organ. 

Profound, fair and thought-provoking, Handel's Theodora argues for faith as a personal journey, not a political decree. The English Concert brought their rendition to the Barbican Centre in London.

The English Concert and Harry Bicket bring Theodora to Carnegie Hall, with Dorothea Röschmann, David Daniels and Sarah Connolly.

Offenbach’s wrongfully neglected masterpiece has returned to us at last, thanks to the concerted efforts of Opera Rara, the Orchestra of the Age of the Enlightenment and Sir Mark Elder; and, above all, because of the tireless, lifelong devotion of one man: Jean-Christophe Keck.

Gloucestershire is rich in musical heritage; well-known composers connected with the county include Parry, Vaughan Williams and Howells, but one name that is less familiar these days is that of Howells’ friend Ivor Gurney.

In a brief mid-concert interview for BBC Radio 3, conductor Sian Edwards was asked why Britten and his contemporaries wrote so much music for small string orchestra, and her answer illuminated the choice of programming for this Proms Saturday Matinee performance.