Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Steven Page

At a time when the “relevance” is bandied around all too frequently in relation to opera, Martinů's really does deserve that tag. 

A simple, but funny production with a strong cast and an enthusiastic chorus brought Rossini's comedy to life.

Newlyn's updating of the opera to the Second World War was effective, while a superb Despina from Soraya Mafi gave the performance real fizz.

Italian swagger and French farce combining to raise some much needed laughs despite the restrictions of a concert performance at Cadogan Hall.

So many things are right about Mark Simpson's new opera Pleasure, receiving its London debut at the Lyric Hammersmith.

The Devil Inside, a chilling new opera by Stuart Macrae with libretto by Louise Welsh, is a fairy tale for grown-ups. Who will be the last owner of the devilish bottle and the curse of eternal damnation?

Sondheim's Sweeney Todd seen and heard as it is: one of the greatest late-20th-century operas. 

This traditional production of Patience was strongly sung and acted and was a joyful evening.

To end the 2012/13 season, Scottish Opera has teamed up with the D’Oyly Carte Company to create a crisp new production of The Pirates of Penzance, which heads off to England and Wales after touring Scotland.

Paradox is unsurprising in the works of a composer who said: "The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees one's self of the chains that shackle the spirit." The often distancing neoclassical idiom seemed unable to deny Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress (1951) emotionally engaging and affecting music.

Baritone Thomas Hampson recently quipped that he'd try anything other than Gilbert and Sullivan, echoing the sentiments of many opera fans who are inclined to see the operettas penned by the Victorian duo as the preserve of amateur dramatic societies and school drama clubs. With this in mind, it was somewhat surprising to see Opera North create a new production of Ruddigore back in 2010.

Last night saw the UK première of Alexander Raskatov's new opera A Dog's Heart, performed by ENO together with theatre company Complicite. The opera, based on a 1925 novella by Russian satirist Mikhail Bulgakov, tells the tale of Sharik, a stray dog who is given the testicles and pituitary gland of a human by an eminent surgeon, the Professor.