Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews

A century on from its birth, one of Switzerland’s leading orchestras finally makes its Proms debut in a scintillating programme of French and Russian music.

Colour and light from Ludovic Morlot and the CBSO in Debussy and Ravel, but it was the power and depth of Lili Boulanger’s Psalm 130 that shone the brightest.

The restrained pacing of Larcher's opera suited the intimate setting of the Werkstattbühne.

The delightful farce in one act in a new, imaginative production inspired by Lewis Carroll.

The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra’s Prom with Daniel Barenboim went in search of identity and found ecstasy

A stellar cast and a new, old-fashioned production bring back Ricciardo e Zoraide to Pesaro after 22 years.

The Estonian Festival Orchestra makes its Proms debut in a refreshing Baltic-Nordic programme.

In this afternoon Prom, Joshua Bell disappointed as a conductor. As a soloist, however, he came up with the goods.

McFall’s Chamber’s Red Blue Balance - music for chamber musicians and jazz trio, introduce three new works, revisit recent work and hark back to Bongo Club days with driving Zappa and swing band Raymond Scott pieces at Edinburgh’s Fringe.

A wonderful cast conducted by William Christie in a new production of L’incoronazione di Poppea at the Salzburg Festival. 

Yo-Yo Ma revisits the cello suites with a message for modern times and the polish of a showbiz pro.

Seattle Opera's memorable Porgy and Bess excels with an exceptional cast who performed with utmost sympathy for their roles.

The title of the latest programme by the Australian Chamber Orchestra is simply: Goldberg Variations. While Bernard Labadie’s ingenious arrangement of JS Bach’s Goldberg Variations for string orchestra takes up all of the second half of the programme, the first half was no less interesting.

At Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre, Wayne McGregor explores what it means to have a life story in Autobiography for the Edinburgh International Festival.

Mozart, Dvořák and Dohnányi takes listeners at the Edinburgh Festival from Prussia to Hungary. 

The effervescent John Wilson and his orchestra make Bernstein's musical sparks fly.

Turco inspired many a great opera director in the past; understandably, as it offers plenty of splendid comic situations. Simon Phillips' hilarious 2014 production is revived by Opera Australia.

The Mostly Mozart Festival ended its season with an all-Mozart program centered on the Requiem. Paired with that was a piano concerto with Stephen Hough and the rarely-heard Meistermusik.

Mariss Jansons and the Vienna Philharmonic do the real storytelling as Hans Neuenfels' staging underwhelms.

Sir Antonio Pappano and his Santa Cecilia Orchestra display their collective strengths in first symphonies by Bernstein and Mahler.

Rattle excels in Dvořák and Janáček, but his rehabilitation of Bernstein stalls.

Returning with a challenging 20th-century program, Vasily Petrenko shows that his stellar debut with the Cleveland Orchestra was no fluke.

An astonishing performance by Asmik Grigorian is central to the Italian director's disturbing reading of a disturbing opera. 

In a fin de siècle programme, Salonen and the Philharmonia demonstrated visceral excitement, and found ways to reinvent. 

Thea Musgrave’s pictorial writing sits well next to an exhilarating Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony. 

Sir Mark Elder and The Hallé orchestra are the powerhouse in a memorable performance of Siegfried. Simon O’ Neill, Iain Paterson and Christine Goerke head up a universally strong cast.

Cecilia Bartoli is joined by frequent collaborators Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier in a fun-filled Rossini farce full of Italian sunshine. Big grins all round. 

An intriguing programme of Britten, Walton, Barber and Copland provided dynamism, evocative imagery and new discoveries in Juanjo Mena’s valedictory concert with the BBC Philharmonic.

The ubiquitous cycle of life and death was explored in two contrasting works by Musgrave and Brahms in Richard Farnes’ debut with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.

A remarkable feat of memorisation – a whole orchestra and no music! – made for an illuminating and exciting introduction to the Soviet composer's “victory” symphony.

The perfect invitation to daydream on a hot afternoon. 

The Minnesota Orchestra’s visit offered a chance to hear Gershwin’s Piano Concerto and Ives’ Symphony no. 2, though the former suffered somewhat from an absence of spark.

The “Festival Tour” and its three-venue concerts of the Davos Festival programme included almost as many visual and outdoor delights as it did musical treats. 

Maestro Crutchfield carefully underlined the transitional character of the music, neither Classical nor Romantic.

Brilliant staging, superb acting, a magnetic performance from Virginie Verrez and an excellent orchestral performance make a strong case for Samuel Barber's all-but-forgotten chiller.

Laurent Pelly’s elegant musical stave production of Il barbiere di Siviglia, from the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, charms and delights at the Edinburgh International Festival.

Aa fitting tribute to the 20th anniversary of State Opera of South Australia’s ongoing romance with the music of Richard Wagner.

Since its inception in 1986, the Davos Festival has given a platform to more than 2,080 young artists of promise. This 33rd festival year is no exception. 

Angels abound as Rachel Podger joins with VOCES8 for a collaborative exploration built around music from her Guardian Angel album.

Sparks were flying on Friday night, and not only from the feet of the Unthank sisters and fellow clog dancing Prommers. Sam Lee said it: “the folking Albert Hall”.

Hereford Cathedral experiences a mix of sacred and secular explorations of melancholy and triumph, from Stravinsky, Walton, Ravel and Lili Boulanger.

Paolo Bortolameolli leads the LA Phil in a programme mixing the familiar with the obscure. 

Miloš Karadaglić provides atmosphere and virtuosity in Joby Talbot’s newest work, while Alexander Vedernikov and the BBC Symphony Orchestra give Russian flourishes in Glinka and Tchaikovsky.

Anna Prohaska reigns supreme in programme of Cleopatra and Dido-inspired Baroque arias in her late night Prom.

Light shines through tears in a concert with a luxurious line-up of VOCES8, the Academey of Ancient Music and Robert Hollingworth at the Milton Abbey Music Festival in Dorset. 

Evocative Smyth and impressively detailed Strauss from Tausk, and warm Dvořák with soulful playing from Daniel Müller-Schott.

An imaginative pairing of London symphonies find the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in good form. 

Saburo Teshigawara sets Rameau’s opéra-ballet Pigmalion as a compelling dance performance

An opera which has not only a historical and philological interest for scholars and experts, but is of great musical value.

In a highly virtuosic programme, Jospeh Tawadros challenged our expectations of the oud, through his own improvisatory compositions, as well as in a new commission from Jessica Wells.