Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Samuel Sakker

William Alwyn's operatic take on Strindberg is rarely performed – a complete mystery considering this excellent concert staging at the Barbican by the BBCSO under Sakari Oramo.

A good, honest staging and solid singing add up to an excellent new production – its third – at Opera Holland Park. 

An impressive Italian première of a reconstruction of Sardanapalo in Lerici.

Aa fitting tribute to the 20th anniversary of State Opera of South Australia’s ongoing romance with the music of Richard Wagner.

Brett Dean's Hamlet is an extremely powerful theatrical experience, excelling in all aspects of production, singing and musical values, but is it an opera?

ENB’s double-bill lurches, rather jarring, across centuries dividing a nineteenth century canonical romantic ballet from the streamlined expressionism of Kenneth MacMillan’s 1965 Song of the Earth. 

A mural depicting Etna erupting is the only hint of Sicily in Stefan Herheim’s opulent staging, returning to Covent Garden for the first time since the Royal Opera’s Verdi bicentenary celebrations in 2013. 

An icy female ruler, three chaotic cabinet ministers, questionable hand-holding - it could only be Puccini's last opera in a revivial of Serban's gorgeous 1984 production.

Two years ago, Russian soprano Ekaterina Bakanova was thrust into her Royal Opera debut, stepping in at short notice as Violetta. Her triumph was enough for the powers that be to offer her a run of five performances this month.

At the Barbican last night, Gerald Finley, John Adams and the BBC Symphony Orchestra combined to deliver the heaviest operatic punch I’ve been subjected to all year.

Holten's masonic lodge setting of Meistersinger gets a lot right but is occasionally uneven; Terfel and Hughes Jones are constantly good to listen to.

Renée Fleming has decided the time is right to bow out gracefully from the operatic stage, choosing her signature role to bid the fondest of farewells to London.

I arrived at the Royal Opera House in the usual way, settled into my seat, and – could you believe it – the opera was gone!

A disappointing staging for the Jette Parker Young Artists' annual showcase at the Royal Opera House. 

Liudmyla Monstyrska and John Relyea turn in strong performances and Plácido Domingo confirms his hallowed status, but Daniele Abbado's direction remains unappealing in this first revival.

Tim Albery's 2010 production of Tannhäuser, receiving its first revival at Covent Garden, begins with a stylish opening 20 minutes, but thereafter things become rather bland. 

Poor intelligibility and lack of pace in the music or acting make L'Étoile into a disappointingly flat evening.

Even us Verdi enthusiasts experience something of a heavy tread as we wend our way to yet another Traviata at the Royal Opera House.

The Royal Opera House get us in the mood for Halloween with a deliciously creepy, lean production of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies' The Lighthouse. 

School’s out for summer and with it the opportunity for the Royal Opera’s Jette Parker Young Artists to showcase their talents in the end of term main stage performance. 

Any revival of La traviata stands or falls by its principals and their ability to inhabit the roles rather than merely sing them prettily. A good revival director helps. 

With its latest incarnation of Die Zauberflöte, the Royal Opera ticks all the boxes in a strongly cast revival.