Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Claudia Huckle

A fine singing cast gives creditable performances in Johann Stauss II's most famous operetta, but Paul Curran's updating of Act 2 to 1930s Berlin takes the fizz out of the Champagne.

Vladimir Jurowski's six-year Ring with the LPO closes as the cycle began: a gleaming, golden ring with a black hole at its core. 

Maxim Emelyanychev, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Chorus and a luxury cast of soloists enchant in a concert performance of The Magic Flute at the Edinburgh International Festival.

Tenor Nicholas Mulroy directs a one-voice-to-a-part account of Bach's St Matthew Passion, featuring some splendid singing. 

The EIF’s cycle comes to a fabulous end with RSNO and Andrew Davis leading a luxury cast, Christine Goerke’s emotionally powerful Brünnhilde a highlight. 

Carsen's scaled-down Ring makes a timely comeback with a melancholy message of decay.

A standout performance from Stephen Milling complements all-round excellence of cast to provide a satisfying end to the Covent Garden Ring.

We start with a triumphant Royal Opera debut from Stuart Skelton, we close with Nina Stemme at her finest; a thrilling orchestral performance links the two. A memorable Walküre.

Thomas Søndergård’s final performance as chief of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales sees them pull off Mahler 8 in style.

A brooding and melancholy presentation of Bach’s masterpiece from the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Mark Padmore. 

The cavernous Mayflower pit eats singers for breakfast and only Natalya Romaniw’s full-blooded Tatyana escaped its jaws unmarked

A sensational Die Walküre from Sir Andrew Davis and the RSNO at the Edinburgh Festival that will be talked about for years.

In a concert of two halves, Worcester Cathedral experiences unforgettable pain and pleasure in works by Strauss, Rasch and Janáček.

How picturesque do you like your Puccini? Do you take your Turandot sweet or sour? How much lacquer is layered over your ideal Madama Butterfly?

“Out of this wood do not desire to go!” Tytania orders Bottom. Glyndebourne's revival of Peter Hall's classic production of A Midsummer Night's Dream is eerily enchanting, weaving its spell right from the queasy double bass glissandos, which slither into Britten's score.

In Anna Russell's wittily deadpan analysis of Wagner's Ring cycle, she describes Wotan as “the head god” – pausing for dramatic effect before adding “and he's a crashing bore too.”

The combined forces of various LSO and Guildhall ensembles come together in an evening that was, in turns, poignant and thrilling to perform Peter Maxwell Davies's last work. 

Johan Reuter leads an all star cast in a revelatory performance of George Enescu's masterpiece, aided by spectacular La Fura dels Baus staging.

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

The BBC SSO and Ilan Volkov close EIF 2014's contemplations on 'Conflict and Culture' with dark Mills and dramatic Janáček.

The story of Hansel and Gretel is at least 200 years old – the Brothers Grimm, those avid collectors of German folklore, first published it in 1812. And this well-loved tale’s longevity is something that Garsington Opera’s new production draws attention to from the outset. During the overture, a group of shadowy figures drop pages from a book, which Hansel and Gretel collect with glee.

Ladies and gentlemen of Washington DC and the nearby lands!If last fall you did not get a chance to journey to New York for the Met’s season-opening production of Anna Bolena – do not fret! Last Saturday the Washington National Opera opened its new season with a production of Anna Bolena (a little too bloody for a season opening if you ask me, but maybe that’s what attracts most people to opera th

Young man spurns the love of a good woman. Time passes. Man realises the error of his ways, but it is too late. It's not exactly the most taxing of plot lines, but in Eugene Onegin, Alexander Pushkin turned it into a masterpiece.

Jonathan Miller's much-loved production of The Mikado for English National Opera is now 25 years old and well remembered. But not, I confess by me. My last experience of Gilbert and Sullivan was on the other side of the curtain, as a sister, cousin or aunt in a school production of HMS Pinafore, an experience sufficiently scarring that I resolved never to go to a G&S opera again.

Andreas Homoki inszeniert Puccinis Oper auf einem riesigen Stück Papier. Was noch einem harten Stück Regietheater klingt, entpuppt sich als packendes Kammerspiel, das ganz auf seine Protagonistin zugespitzt ist.

Esperábamos una culminación de esta Tetralogía que continuara con su trayectoria ascendente de calidad musical, algo que desgraciadamente se ha quedado lejos de la realidad.

Das überaus farbenreich spielende Freiburger Barockorchester bot eine tief bewegende Aufführung von Händels Messiah.

La Basilique de Saint-Denis a accueilli l'Orchestre Philharmonique et le Chœur de Radio France, dirigés par Myung-whun Chung, pour une remarquable Symphonie n° 2 de Mahler, dite « Résurrection ».

Zum 260. Todestag Händels lädt Das Neue Orchester zu einem feierlichen Messiah.

Sir Simon Rattle setzt mit der Walküre seinen konzertanten Ring mit dem BRSO fort – mit großem Erfolg.