Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | James Gaffigan

Shostakovich's opera is laid bare in Berlin, to devastating effect, with a distinguished cast led by Ambur Braid. 

Salome is faceless and the Dance of the Seven Veils becomes a sardonic commentary on seduction in Komische Oper Berlin's austere new staging. 

With a brand new production by Barrie Kosky, Komische Oper Berlin's first venture into the Sondheim repertoire mostly falls flat.

In his debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Gaffigan threads the needle between innocence and irony in Mahler's great work, ably supported by soprano Elena Villalón.

With the success of this daring encounter, Berlin's Komische Oper broke barriers between worlds and cultures. So what if the acoustics of the venue were stretched past their limits.

Six talented finalists light up the final of the prestigious Norwegian singing competition

James Gaffigan proves to be both a master of the intricacies in complex Prokofiev and an attentive accompanist in Rachmaninov.

Ailyn Pérez’ role debut as Tatiana in Eugene Onegin at the Metropolitan Opera is a joy, with Piotr Beczała's Lensky the evening’s other standout. 

Christian Ihle Hadland’s piano sparkled in Ravel sandwiched by lively and joyful Rameau and Mozart.

Guest conductor James Gaffigan celebrated musical Americana in a program of Copland, Barber, Ellington, and Karpman. 

James Gaffigan and the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus provide the climax to a worthy day of discovery at the Barbican.

A debuting conductor, two new singers, and a fine ensemble of singers bring unexpected joy to the Met's traditional La bohème with fresh and youthful energy.

Excellent performances by James Gaffigan and The Cleveland Orchestra of music by Barber, Mendelssohn, and Sibelius made for an enjoyable summer evening at the Blossom Music Festival. Stephen Hough was an outstanding piano soloist.

Synergies between singers compensated for accurate but unexciting orchestral playing.

There was lots to like in the Philadelphia Orchestra's All-American Celebration for Thanksgiving.

Verdi voices that make one sit up and listen made this a memorable matinee.

The BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus conducted by James Gaffigan, with two stellar soprano soloists, deliver a maritime-themed programme of pieces by Korngold, Anders Hillborg and Rimsky-Korsakov.

‘Dancing with the Orchestra’ was the last subscription concert of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and two compositions with a focus on dance bookended Béla Bartók’s Violin Concerto no. 2. 

Lalo's sunny slice of Seville formed the centrepiece of a programme by the BSO and James Gaffigan that completely lived up to its seductive “Exotic Spice” billing.

In his Houston Symphony debut, Behzod Abduraimov holds court with Beethoven, even though the orchestra couldn't quite match him. 

This unusual program had the unlikely pairing of Schoenberg's Piano Concerto and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, for which Kirill Gerstein was a brilliant soloist. 

The BBC Symphony Orchestra brought together the music of two very different composers forced into American exile by the Third Reich.

Carl Vine's Five Hallucinations received its world première with dedicatee and CSO trombonist Michael Mulcahy. Gaffigan's diverse program also included a Franck tone poem and Prokofiev's Cinderella.

With the many glories of the score and the easy butts of class and marital comedy, it is hard not to be pleased by a Figaro performance, although tonight’s did not sparkle as much as it might have. 

The bells of Mussorgsky, Rachmaninov and Pärt resound and reverberate in The Main Hall of the Concertgebouw.

Tatyana Gürbaca's new production of La traviata in Oslo may be on the heavy-handed side, but still offers fascinating new insights into Verdi's opera.

James Gaffigan, aided by a fine cast of soloists led by the full-blooded Rigoletto of Dimitri Platanias, demonstrated that Verdi's powerfully dramatic music does not need staging to keep the audience captivated.

Hitchcock’s Norman Bates meets Bartók’s death defying Miraculous Mandarin, by way of Schoenberg angular 12-tone Piano Concerto - with the odd man out being Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. 

James Gaffigan advised the audience about to hear him conduct Witold Lutosławki’s Piano Concerto to back off like you would from an Impressionist painting, in order to get an impression of the whole. When you do so, it’s a very romantic work. Otherwise, the score resembles ‘a science experiment’ because parts of it are notated without bars and cannot be conducted.

It was sweltering at the Blossom Music Center, summer home of the Cleveland Orchestra, on Saturday evening, August 4. Normally an oasis of coolness, the temperatures were hovering in the high 80s (31°C) at the 8:00 concert time. Even the orchestra members dispensed with their usual white formal jackets and ties.

An element of conflict inhabits the combination of an evening out and a requiem mass. This thought ran through my mind as I approached Edinburgh's Usher Hall, the sunny foreground of which was populated by happy-looking concert-goers greeting friends.

Les Arts triunfa con una deslumbrante Salomé, a la par que terriblemente humana. 

Música y escenografía se funden en un todo para presentar un embelesador El holandés errante en Les Arts.

Les Arts acogió el estreno español de Ciudad sin sueño, de Francisco Coll, con la máxima implicación de Javier Perianes, James Gaffigan y la orquesta titular. 

Simon McBurney sorprende al público de Les Arts con una innovadora producción de La flauta mágica. 

James Gaffigan sustituyó a Vasili Petrenko en una Novena sinfonía, de Beethoven, dinámica, expresiva y con un claro sentido constructivo. 

Kein Mozart für Puristen: Serebrennikov schafft ein dicht erzähltes Sozialdrama über unermesslichen Wohlstand, die Schattenseiten der hochstilisierten Glamourwelt und all jene, auf deren geschundenen Rücken dieser Reichtum verdient ist.

Barrie Kosky macht Rimsky-Korsakows letzte Oper zu einer Persiflage auf den mittelalten Mann in der Midlife Crisis.

Una Dama de picas surrealista y cinematográfica triunfa en Les Arts. 

Àlex Ollé ofrece un buen espectáculo visual para una producción que falla en construir el imprescindible nivel de tensión musical.  

La inquietante e introspectiva producción de Andreas Kriegenburg de la ópera de Alban Berg cierra la temporada de Les Arts.

Manon fait son retour à Bastille dans un spectacle cohérent, avec une distribution réservant quelques belles surprises – mais une direction d'orchestre lorgnant un peu trop vers l'opéra...

Musikalisch überzeugend, aber aufgrund der fehlenden Regie bleiben viele Absurditäten und der abgründige Schabernack auf der Strecke.

Romeo Castellucci nos ofrece un evocador ejercicio de creación y vanguardia artística, fiel a la esencia de una misa de réquiem. 

Una ópera escrita rodeado de “tristeza y la mayor infelicidad”, como el propio autor refirió, es difícil que obtenga el prolongado rédito que su factor espera.

Andreas Dresen und James Gaffigan gelingt eine durchweg stimmige Neuinszenierung von Puccinis Oper  an der Bayerischen Staatsoper.

Eric Owens singt Porgy mit Leib und Seele und ist mit seiner charismatischen Ausstrahlung der unbestrittene Held dieser Oper.

Au milieu d'un week-end « Spirit », Martha Argerich était invitée à donner le Premier Concerto de Liszt. Pärt et Schubert étaient également au programme, par l'Orchestre symphonique de Lucerne.

Große musikalische Konflikte galt es für die Münchner Philharmoniker zu lösen. Neben der Uraufführung eines neuen Trompetenkonzerts von Geoffrey Gordon interpretierten die Münchner Mahlers Sechste Symphonie.