Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Iestyn Davies

The music plays second fiddle to Australian circus company Circa in Yaron Lifschitz’s production of Gluck's great opera. 

Returning from the original run, Christopher Purves and Iestyn Davies were joined by a strong cast and chorus for a revival of Barrie Kosky's striking production.

Iestyn Davies shows how to make every word count in a fairly standard sampler of Baroque arias; Ticciati is a fireball on the podium with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

A star-studded group of soloists and a wonderful choir make for an interesting, if not always convincing, interpretation of Bach's joyous oratorio. 

Iestyn Davies joins the Australian Chamber Orchestra for music by Bach and Pärt in a programme featuring distracting modern dance. 

“A concert performance with neither scenery nor action would be a sacrilege,” wrote one authority of this opera. Nobody told the Academy of Ancient Music...

In the first and last acts, ladies entered with a train still attached to a bolt of cloth, which was then cut to length by an attendant. Was this production brought to the stage in a great hurry, allowing no time for costume fittings? 

With two cantatas for solo alto bookending the Third Brandenburg Concerto, The English Concert bewitches in this late-night all Bach programme. 

Robert Murray excels as the eponymous king in the opera seria that cemented the 14-year old Mozart’s position as the next big thing. 

Handel's oratorio Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno receives its first-ever performance at Berlin's Philharmonie, proving that in the hands of Emmanuelle Haïm beauty can indeed defeat time. 

Harry Bicket brings verve and distinctiveness to a stellar cast in Stephen Wadsworth's production, which is neither conventional nor daring.

As part of 'London Unwrapped', countertenor Iestyn Davies presented vocal portraits of the altos – male and female – for whom Handel composed in the capital. 

Handel’s Messiah is not too re-imagined, thankfully, with an almost Crystal Palace sized choir although not all singing at once!

Richard Egarr was able to put together a performance that – full of energy and dynamism – succeeded in bringing forward with great transparency, restraint and delicacy this score’s wonderful musical tapestry. 

It’s the title character who gets the best tunes in Ariodante and Irish mezzo-soprano Paula Murrihy ate them up. 

An over-directed, but vivid staging demonstrating political rise and fall in Ancient Rome transported to the present day.

Centuries can envelop a musical masterpiece in a cocoon of misconceptions and false interpretations as much they leave their mark in the form of dirt and grime on a painting’s surface.

A revival of Richard Jones’ production of Handel’s emotionally probing opera. 

A conductorless performance of Handel's masterpiece lights up the Barbican.

The cast, sets, costumes and direction of Muhly's opera Marnie impress, but the music somehow falls short of expectations.

Jonathan Cohen leads a sensitive performance by Arcangelo, with a line-up of five outstanding lyrical voices. 

Barrie Kosky's punchy, visually exhilarating take on Saul, with Iestyn Davies as a sublime David, makes for a powerful evening of drama at Glyndebourne.

Even without stage machinery or sets, The English Concert’s performance of Handel’s Rinaldo was enchanting. 

There were plenty of vocal fireworks in this concert performance of Handel’s opera. 

Adès opera resists explanation, and the ambiguity of the story drives much of its compelling nature. 

An underwhelming performance that fell prey to poor interpretive judgements. 

Netia Jones' new production taps into Britten's silvery underworld in a staging dominated by video wizardry which is hypnotically beautiful, but comes at a price.

Luis Buñuel's derision at the sense of entitlement of over-privileged, self-righteous prigs shines through a high quality operatic adaptation.

A high-minded approach to Bach's masterpiece is undercut by an uneven performance.

The Royal Opera's first revival of George Benjamin's medieval shocker is characterised by stellar singing performances, notably from Barbara Hannigan and Iestyn Davies.

Eschewing conventions throughout, Daisy Evans' production of The Fairy Queen walks boldly out of the woods into an exciting future for opera staging.

The Salzburg Festival audience warmly applauded Thomas Adès, Tom Cairns and all musicians for a rounded and gripping première.

“If music be the food of love, play on, give me excess of it.” There was certainly plenty of Shakespeare-inspired music on the bill for the London Philharmonic Orchestra's celebration of The Bard. 

Bach’s Magnificat featured superlative solos from both singers and musicians, but the RCO and Iván Fischer reached a higher plane in a beautifully crafted and optimistic Brahms’ First Symphony.

A programme of personal choices curated by George Benjamin in collaboration with Oliver Knussen – that didn’t quite hang together but with two UK  premières it was a fascinating evening. 

The English Concert give us a truly exceptional concert performance of Orlando, starring Iestyn Davies in the title role, with a strong cast and glorious singing: but it's begging for a proper staging. 

A full-sized LPO première a bewildering new mass setting by Alexander Raskatov that misses the mark and sits uneasily alongside Beethoven's great ode to nature. 

Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Chorus were on top form, joined by a team of Baroque soloists under Handel expert Harry Bicket to produce a memorable Theodora.

Five star reviews are flowing Arcangelo’s way. It’s easy to see why. Five years after it was founded by Jonathan Cohen, the quality of this zestful ensemble just keeps soaring. 

The new season at Wigmore Hall launched with a sensitively programmed selection of Handel arias, intelligently played by some of the country's finest Handelians.  

Stimulating sounds from the Academy of Ancient Music in late night Bach at the Proms. 

With the help of a star-studded cast, Barrie Kosky's imaginative staging delivers a production of Handel's Saul which has just about everything going for it: choreography, voices, acting. A must-see.

There comes a stage in every countertenor’s career when he feels himself ready to tackle the exposed repertoire of John Dowland, and hence the need to find himself a talented lutenist.

Iestyn Davies and The King's Consort a real highlight at the Valletta International Baroque Festival. 

With so many performances of Handel’s Messiah popping up around the holidays, how’s one to choose?

Joélle Harvey, Iestyn Davies, Nicholas Phan and Hanno Müller-Brachmann shine in Franz Welser-Möst's sometimes meditative interpretation of Bach's Mass in B minor.

Chalk and talk is dead. Teachers scramble to bring history to life in classrooms up and down the country through dressing-up days and interactive whiteboard activities. Few, however, can equal Robert Carsen’s efforts in his riotous production of Handel’s Rinaldo, here on its first Glyndebourne revival since its 2011 première.

An evening of music-making of great integrity and intelligence from renowned Bach expert John Butt and his dynamic ensemble. 

The intimate Vancouver Playhouse was nearly full to hear Iestyn Davies and Thomas Dunford. Consisting of lute songs by John Dowland and his contemporaries, in addition to the Canadian premiere of Nico Muhly’s Old Bones, it’s hard to imagine a more artistically satisfying and entertaining way to spend an afternoon.