Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Guy Johnston

Thrills and disappointment in equal measure in mixed performances of two core repertory works under Mark Wigglesworth at the Lighthouse, Poole. 

The eclectic programme of 19th-century concerto and symphony, coupled with a world premiere, failed to yield any knockout performance from this team. 

Cecil Armstrong Gibbs’ largely forgotten Symphony no. 2, "Odysseus" proves exhausting, while works by Ireland and Howells tap into rich veins of mythical wistfulness and excruciating pain.

With a smaller programme and a humbler premise, the stars of the show – those young, immensely talented performers – could have shone even brighter

An all-Sibelius programme given by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Sakari Oramo, featuring a UK première, an instrumental rarity and the First Symphony.

Joan Rodger's idiomatic soprano and the surging cello obbligato were revelatory in this symbolist paean.

An enterprising programme featuring a rare Haydn symphony, a new work by Charlotte Bray and Mahler 5, played by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Sakari Oramo and with Guy Johnston as cello soloist.

Guy Johnston and friends in a varied programme of works and arrangements for 12 cellos, joined by soprano Golda Schultz in tender and spirited Villa-Lobos.

A “post-season friendly” for the RSNO, this Usher Hall concert formed part of the Qatar UK 2013 Year of Culture Musical Celebration. Knowing almost nothing of this former British protectorate, I was surprised to discover that the population is just under two million – approximately 40% of Scotland’s.

St George’s Bristol is an extraordinary venue. Renowned for its unbeatable acoustic amongst performers and listeners alike, there is something unique about it that cannot be attributed to its sonic qualities alone.

Like a puzzle where you have to get from one word to a completely different one by changing single letters, Friday evening’s concert from Northern Sinfonia travelled from the sparse simplicity of Arvo Pärt’s Spiegel im Spiegel, to the richness of a Brahms symphony in three utterly logical musical steps.