Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Anna Stéphany

Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel has appeal for all ages, but Robert Carsen’s production is a different take on the beloved fairy tale.

Neither Simon Rattle nor Magdalena Kožena could resist a tendency to add sentiment.

It was only in the final moments of The Firebird that the orchestra let themselves go, following a series of sensitive and transparent performances.

Interviewed at the time of this production's first outing, McVicar declared that “Entertainment is not a dirty word”. His Giulio Cesare remains a hugely entertaining opera production.

In Jetske Mijnssen’s new production of Idomeneo, all order of human entanglements, sorrows and pain run rampant.

A strong cast led by Anna Stéphany's Sesto made the most of the last opportunity to hear Glyndebourne's production of Mozart's final opera.

A grimly dark setting for Mozart's final opera, Sesto and Tito haunted by childhood memories. 

Juan Diego Flórez stars as Goethe’s archetypal Romantic poet in Massenet's Werther in Zurich. 

Renée Fleming has decided the time is right to bow out gracefully from the operatic stage, choosing her signature role to bid the fondest of farewells to London.

Democracy and collectivism were hard at work as Jurowski’s decidedly undictatorial style fostered a strong on-stage community amongst the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, who ultimately conjured Elysium itself.

In Mozart’s marvellous Così fan tutte, what begins as a harmless wager around what women left alone will do suddenly balloons into a major calamity. 

King Arthur, an action-packed five-act semi- or "dramatick” opera with music by Henry Purcell and libretto by John Dryden, took on an entirely new face at its recent Zurich première.

A very naughty translation and some fine singing make for a delightfully comic evening of Cesti's recently rediscovered Orontea at Wigmore Hall. 

The Philharmonia Orchestra's Paris: City of Light 1900–1950 reaches its climax, where Debussy and Messiaen combine for a radiant, dazzling programme. Pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard crowns an emotionally intense Turangalîla-symphonie.

Precise Rachmaninov and heartfelt Beethoven in a fine Philharmonia Zürich programme conducted by Fabio Luisi. 

Seeing Zürich Opera’s new production of Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria made me wonder why this is the least performed of Monteverdi's three surviving operas. 

Hot on the heels of the Urban Classic Prom came this, the BBC 6 Music Prom. Yet another first in this year’s Proms saw BBC Radios 3 and 6 Music bring together the likes of Cerys Matthews, Laura Marling, Xenakis, The Stranglers, Varèse and the London Sinfonietta, and produce a programme comprising styles that might loosely be described as “alternative”, from the fringes of pop to punk rock via mode

Northern Sinfonia’s concert in Hall One of the Sage Gateshead last night challenged the audience to put aside our normal preconceptions, to see well-known composers in a slightly different light. Mendelssohn’s “Fifth” Symphony was actually the second one he wrote – at the age of only 20 – but it was not published until after his death and is not played as much as his other symphonies.

Early music ensembles have become an established feature in the late night prom slot. In the calm and relaxed late night setting, the warm, articulate sound of period instruments can create a wonderful intimacy within the vast space of the Royal Albert Hall.

Grand spécialiste du baroque allemand, Masaaki Suzuki est très attentif à son Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment en petite forme. Robert Murray se distingue dans une distribution de qualité.