Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Kristina Hammarström

Martin Kušej gives Mozart and Da Ponte's commedia per musica a sinister mafia setting, which is low on laughs but outstandingly performed, led by Lea Desandre's charismatic Cherubino.

Romeo Castellucci’s inspiring and spiritual production lands in Berlin, with a superb cast of Baroque specialists and the B’Rock Orchestra under the baton of René Jacobs.

Michieletto presents an engaging new production where magic and reality reflect each other through a mirror, and humans are exposed in all their vulnerability.

A concert performance of Arianna in Creta at the Halle Handel Festival riveted the audience with the towering talent of Ann Hallenberg and uniformly fine singing, acting and playing.

Under the baton of René Jacobs, B’rock Orchestra gave an inspired performance  that ought to contribute in giving Il ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria the place it deserves in the standard repertoire.

Interesting rediscovery of Veracini's first opera, composed for mythical castrati Senesino and Farinelly, and brought to life again by Fabio Biondi and Europa Galante.

Holland Festival revives Pierre Audi’s 2012 production of Handel’s Orlando. Conducted by baroque specialist René Jacobs and featuring an strong cast, it is a great occasion to witness American countertenor Bejun Mehta in what has become, over the past decade, his signature role.

Pairing Mendelssohn’s Fifth Symphony, the so-called “Reformation Symphony”, and Bruckner’s Third Mass in F minor seemed to me at first a rather novel, but very interesting idea. It was perhaps not the most daring of programmes, but certainly a very interesting one, picking a symphony steeped in Protestant tradition and then a Catholic mass.

In Pierre Audi’s new production of Handel’s Orlando, currently running at La Monnaie in Brussels (until 12 May, and thereafter available free online on their website for three weeks), the knight Orlando is portrayed as a modern-day fireman who in his fascination with fire has become an arsonist – “pyromane” as Audi explains in the programme.

Im unweigerlichen Vergleich zum Haydn2032-Projekt mit Antonini fielen vor allem ein entspannterer, leicht lyrisch-kantablerer, gemäßigterer Ansatz mit Jacobs-typischen Solo-Ripieno-Eingriffen auf.

Il ritorno von Claudio Monteverdi und Joan Didions magisches Denken über Warten und Spannen der Zeit: eine bemerkenswerte Symbiose gelingt dem Regisseur Christopher Rüping im Festival „Ja, Mai“ der Bayerischen Staatsoper

Synecdoque de la Passion et donc référence la plus évidente en pleine semaine sainte, la Passion selon Saint Matthieu, monumentale, canonique, proprement géniale, bouleverse et surprend encore son auditeur.

Mit dieser neuerlichen Belgien-Produktion unterstrichen Ensemble und Dirigent ihren Ruf als vorzügliche und lebendige Opernausleuchter.

Une bien belle découverte avec ce « Giasone » de Cavalli sous la baguette de Leonardo Garcia Alarcon : un casting dominé par les voix de la Medea de Kristina Hammarström  et l’Isifile de Fristina Mkhitaryan, porté par la mise en scène piquante de Serena Sinigaglia, et mis en valeur par les fastes de la Capella Mediterranea. 

L’Alcina genevoise de Nicole Cabell est à elle seule une raison suffisante pour courir entendre ce magnifique opéra d’un Haendel servi par un Orchestre de la Suisse Romande qui se révèle plus baroqueux qu’on ne pouvait l’augurer. On passera sur une mise en scène un peu morne et une distribution un brin hétéroclite.