Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Alex Otterburn

Even locked behind a music stand, like a caged panther in a sleek black gown, Grigorian’s Salome bristles with dramatic energy in Barbican concert performance of Strauss’ “scherzo with a fatal conclusion”. 

Despite some excellent music-making, John Savournin's production is hindered by a laboured New York relocation. 

Musgrave's powerful depiction of a powerful woman at the mercy of male manipulation receives a strong staging from at ENO. 

Judith Weir's cryptic folk opera lacks the narrative propulsion necessary to enthral an audience, and without resolution there is no catharsis.

Glyndebourne's new production of Lehár's greatest work is interpreted with his customary flair and fun by Cal McCrystal. 

Diane Paulus' staging is remarkably true to the original while making it feel like the work was written yesterday.

English National Opera opens its new season with a revival of David Alden's masterly production. 

A strong revival cast, conducted by Dalia Stasevska, demonstrate why Sir Peter Hall's 1981 vintage staging of Britten’s A Midsummer Night's Dream is such a classic. 

When done as well as this, a "concert staging" is not oxymoronic, but a precise term for a valuable mode of presentation.

Finally reaching the stage of the Venetian theatre, Benjamin Britten's first major opera meets with success thanks to Juraj Valčuha's conducting, Paul Curran's staging and an excellent cast.

Britten's four lovers were costumed in quasi-contemporary, even glamorous manner, stripping to their underwear for the end of Act 2... so more Love Island than Ancient Athens.

Bieito’s Carmen is now a mainstay of ENO's repertoire, but with an excellent central cast led by Sean Panikkar and Justina Gringytė, the production feels entirely fresh. 

The American Dream hits Ally Pally in a vivacious performance of Britten's eclectic operetta, headlined by an ENO chorus who knock it out of the park.

Daniel Kramer’s direction is a model of restraint compared to some of his earlier work for the company.

Giles Havergal directs and Martin André conducts an energetic production of Franz Léhar's The Merry Widow at the Grand Theatre, Leeds.

The EIF begins its Bernstein day with music from the outer edges of his career.

A spirited and seamless production of Strauss’s Ariadne is aided by some excellent singing and playing at London’s premier summer opera festival.

A resounding success at its 1709 première, Handel’s Agrippina gripped the ear and dazzled the eye at the Grange Festival in a hugely entertaining and powerful performance.

Antony McDonald’s take on Ariadne auf Naxos, a co-production from Scottish Opera and Opera Holland Park, sparkles with wit. 

Alex Otterburn as East End Eddy gives a towering performance in Scottish Opera’s revival of its Edinburgh Festival production of Mark Anthony Turnage’s Greek.

There are no answers, nor indeed many probing questions, in this Scottish Opera revival of Sir David McVicar’s production from 2008, but it is sumptuous and enjoyable.

“Folies Bergère does Greek gods” is how director Martin Duncan describes Offenbach's Orphée aux enfers, and his production for Royal Academy Opera is enormous fun. 

In Shoreditch, the Royal Academy of Music showed off some superb singing in a chilling exploration of tyranny and unrestrained power.

A polished production of The Marriage of Figaro from some of the potential opera stars of the future.

Royal Academy Opera's thoroughly competent Suor Angelica precedes a fabulously entertaining Gianni Schicchi, with a top drawer performance from Haobin Wang in the title role.

La mise en scène par Laurent Pelly vient réparer un manque : le chef-d’œuvre onirique et féérique de Britten n'avait encore jamais été donné dans l’opéra de la capitale vaudoise.