Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Elizabeth Cragg

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

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

The Chelsea Opera Group give a concert performance of Wagner's early opera Das Liebesverbot conducted by Anthony Negus.

Celebrating the Wagner centenary in 1913, the Hallé Orchestra gave a concert performance in Manchester of Acts II and III from Wagner’s epic final masterpiece Parsifal.

The Netherlands Opera’s revival production of Prokofiev’s L’amour des trois oranges is sweet, juicy, and just a bit bitter in the right moments.This production presents Prokofiev’s piece in the original French with Dutch and English supertitles. At its first performance in Chicago in 1921, Prokofiev’s opera was presented in French rather than Russian. French is a sensible choice for this region.

Between them, Mozart and Bach wrote what is to my mind some of the happiest music in the repertoire, and the works performed in this concert by Northern Sinfonia and Chorus reminded us that great music doesn’t have to be solemn, or deliver a serious message – sometimes it’s about having as much fun as possible.