Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Brian Mulligan

Klaus Mäkelä and the Orchestre de Paris give us an orchestral kaleidoscope, Kosky's pared-down staging allows the emotions of Strauss and Hofmannstahl's work to shine through.

In expert hands, a terrifying 12-tone opera and a heroic piano concerto rattle the walls in Prague’s Rudolfinum.

The Philadelphia Orchestra offers a musically and dramatically urgent performance of Wagner’s complete opera, buoyed by world-class soloists.

Manfred Schweigkofler's production places the drama in a surreal, timeless atmosphere at the Teatro San Carlo. 

Lise Davidsen's thoughtful role debut at the Marschallin rescues a production that is often at odds with the story it seeks to tell.

The Met's new Lohengrin descends into old-fashioned hilarity, despite an excellent cast. 

Under director Annabelle Comyn’s modern setting, we have a moving, convincing Fidelio to resonate with our current age.  

Salzburg's new staging of Enescu's operatic epic Oedipe is a visual and musical triumph.

The credits for this new production directed by Olivier Py raised high expectations that were only partially met on opening night.

Robert Wilson's Madama Butterfly is back in Amsterdam starring rising star Elena Stikhina as the doomed Cio-Cio-San.

In Georges Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles, two men’s vow of eternal friendship is threatened by their love for the same woman. Only one man lives to tell the tale. 

Mark Elder and the LPO's performance of Puccini's Le Willis proved interesting and frustrating in equal measure, rescued by a star performance from Ermonela Jaho.

The world is gloriously redeemed in the gripping final installment of San Francisco Opera's Ring cycle.

At San Francisco Opera, conductor Donald Runnicles and a top-notch cast deliver a delicious Rheingold in Francesca Zambello's colorful production.

Apparently, the composer himself was a notorious cheater, we can assume that some of the unsavoury themes of his 1904 opera “Madame Butterfly” were close to the bone.

Torrential downpours and the croaking of consumptive frogs fail to dampen spirits at Wolf Trap's National Symphony Orchestra concert featuring pianist Seong-Jin Cho, JoAnn Falletta and a massive community chorus.

Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande is beautifully realised in Claus Guth's now classic production, revived with a new cast of principals at Oper Frankfurt.

The summer’s extreme heat and lack of rain have created drought conditions in Atlanta. As fate would have it, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra this week programmed two works drenched with water, albeit of the salty variety.

Francesca Zambello stages a new production of Robert Ward's opera The Crucible at the Glimmerglass Festival in upstate New York. 

The Met brought back a 20-year-old traditional production of Simon Boccanegra with a starry cast led by James Levine.

Leaving little to chance, Donal Runnicles attends to every detail in a powerful performance of the Missa solemnis in Atlanta. 

Two American premières offer very different musical and dramatic takes on Poe's short story, and both prove gripping. 

San Francisco Opera's production of Sweeney Todd brings nothing new to the musical, but the cast includes wonderful surprises – most notably Stephanie Blythe's Mrs Lovett.

Staging the operatic behemoth that is Berlioz's Les Troyens comes with huge challenges to harness the artistic, technical and dramatic qualities in a work which spans more than four hours. 

Everything about the opening scene of this production set me on edge: centre-stage a hybrid bed on wheels, part crib part hospital, and propped up on it, peering through the bars, a young female, presumably Lucia. The set is a high-walled room, dingy white, plaster stained, paper peeling, with  a short door and elongated windows suggesting a surreal Alice-in-Wonderland distortion.

It’s difficult to believe that the current run of John Adams’ Nixon in China at the San Francisco Opera marks the opera’s local premiere. Adams is not only one of the leading composers of his generation, but he is also a celebrated local hero.

"It was a dark and stormy night …." Chuckling whenever I hear these lines, I can see Charles Schultz’s beloved Snoopy staring intensely at his typewriter, vigorously typing away what he would consider his magnum opus novel.

El tándem formado por Heras-Casado y Bieito lleva de nuevo a l'Opéra national de Paris la tetralogía de Wagner.

Le dernier volet de la Tétralogie propose une distribution de premier ordre et une réalisation admirable en fosse, mais n'apporte pas la cohérence qu'on espérait dans un cycle qui laisse un goût d'inachevé.

Klar herausgearbeitete Kontraste und ein überwältigend starker dramatischer Puls prägten diese konzertante Aufführung von Wagners Oper im Festspielhaus Baden-Baden.

Pour ce troisième volet du Ring proposé en version de concert par Yannick Nézet-Séguin et l'Orchestre philharmonique de Rotterdam, c'est le plateau vocal qui brille avant tout, éclipsant l'orchestre et le chef.

Si la mise en scène de Calixto Bieito comporte une bonne dose d'éléments déconcertants, elle ne manque toutefois pas d'intérêt et peut compter sur des interprètes investis, au premier rang desquels le Heldentenor autrichien.

Très attendue depuis son annulation pour cause de Covid-19, la Tétralogie selon Calixto Bieito déçoit grandement pour son premier épisode, et ni la fosse ni la distribution vocale ne compensent cet échec.

À la tête d'un Orchestre philharmonique de Rotterdam d'une cohésion irréprochable et aux côtés d'une distribution de grande qualité, le chef québécois a proposé une très belle version de concert du deuxième volet du Ring.

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.

Die Staatsoper Stuttgart präsentiert Die Walküre als Arbeit von drei unterschiedlichen Regiearbeiten.

Permettre au public de redécouvrir une œuvre rare et rassembler toutes les conditions pour que l’entreprise soit un succès : mission accomplie !

La baguette énergique et nerveuse de Stéphane Denève offre une Symphonie n° 9 de Beethoven percutante et bouillonnante, accompagné du Vlaams Radiokoor en état de grâce.

Stephen Gould brilliert bei seinem Rollendebüt an der Wiener Staatsoper mit einem stupenden Peter Grimes.

Eine berückende Produktion der Oper Frankfurt bei den Wiener Festwochen im Theater an der Wien