Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Jessica Aszodi

This electic performance of Pierrot Lunaire was preceded by a clutch of contemporary Australian works (and a poem), which served to demonstrate that Schoenberg's modernity is still way ahead of the times.

Movement was so effectively utilised in this production, with elements of ballet, modern and Scottish folk melded in true Agnes de Mille fashion.

Programming Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music is quite a daring move in a country with no real tradition in musical. This production by Nederlands Reisopera shows that fortune favours the bold.

Another ancient hit revived and delivered with panache by Sydney-based Pinchgut Opera: Gretry's L'Amant jaloux (1778) proved it still could raise laughs, aided by a superb cast. 

The adaptation of David Malouf's novella Fly Away Peter by Pierce Wilcox and Elliott Gyger is given a compelling world première by Sydney Chamber Opera under the direction of Jack Symonds.

Victorian Opera’s world première of The Riders, based on Australian author Tim Winton's novel, is an engrossing work of serious substance.