Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Benjamin Hulett

The advantage of staging a rare opera such as Cavalli's Hipermestra at Glyndebourne this year is that the director can work with a blank canvas without audience’s preconceptions.

An opportunity for the human voice to shine in works by Mahler and Mozart, performed by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ilan Volkov, with an opening work by Gérard Grisey.

“Out of this wood do not desire to go!” Tytania orders Bottom. Glyndebourne's revival of Peter Hall's classic production of A Midsummer Night's Dream is eerily enchanting, weaving its spell right from the queasy double bass glissandos, which slither into Britten's score.

Lars Vogt and Royal Northern Sinfonia end their explorations of Mozart and Sibelius with the composers' final works.

Bach’s Magnificat featured superlative solos from both singers and musicians, but the RCO and Iván Fischer reached a higher plane in a beautifully crafted and optimistic Brahms’ First Symphony.

Philippe Herreweghe deftly coordinated the four vocalists, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, and his Collegium Vocale Gent through Beethoven’s challenging score.

A gripping double bill o  “Cav’n’Pag” from Italian director Damiano Michieletto at Covent Garden includes a few surprise guest appearances. 

Barrie Kosky's production, revived for the tour, turns Handel’s 1739 Old Testament oratorio Saul into a gripping psychodrama. 

With the help of a star-studded cast, Barrie Kosky's imaginative staging delivers a production of Handel's Saul which has just about everything going for it: choreography, voices, acting. A must-see.

The benefits of opera in concert are felt in Manchester with the BBC Philharmonic, with a performance of Beethoven's only opera, Fidelio. 

Superlative vocal and instrumental soloists, led by Michael Schade as a vividly intense Evangelist, impress in Bach’s St John Passion at the Concertgebouw.

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

It was hard to choose from the fascinating menu for The Composer’s Echo (the title for this Leeds Lieder Festival), which is described as “a feast of song from the great Western European tradition which fuses poetry and music” by the festival’s director, Jane Anthony.

Programming is one of Simon Rattle’s fortes, and this was clearly evident her. Both works on the programme, Brett Dean’s The Last Days of Socrates and Michael Tippett’s A Child of Our Time are large-scale oratorios dealing with difficult subject matter.

With Verdi's centenary coming up, his last opera Falstaff has had more attention than usual, with this production at Opera Holland Park following hot on the heels of Robert Carsen's new production at Covent Garden.

Northern Sinfonia’s concert in Hall One of the Sage Gateshead last night challenged the audience to put aside our normal preconceptions, to see well-known composers in a slightly different light. Mendelssohn’s “Fifth” Symphony was actually the second one he wrote – at the age of only 20 – but it was not published until after his death and is not played as much as his other symphonies.

Since its first performance in 1742, Handel's Messiah has become one of the world's most popular and widely performed oratorios. With a biblical libretto which tells the story of Jesus from the Nativity to the Ascension, and stunning, joyous choral parts that lend themselves equally well to small and large choirs, the Messiah has become a festive must-hear.

In commemoration of the bombing of Rotterdam on May 14 1940, Rotterdam’s concert venue De Doelen organized a very special program consisting of Benjamin Britten’s “War Requiem”.

La synthèse de l’opéra romantique allemand, de l’opéra-comique français et de l’opera buffa italien qu’accomplit ce Liebesverbot en dit long à la fois sur les mutations de l’opéra d’alors, et sur le style propre, à défaut de l’esthétique, que Wagner développera par la suite.