Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Marcel Beekman

SKUTR's daring direction and Václav Luks's early music expertise combine to bring new vitality to a Baroque classic. 

Jan Philipp Gloger's production returns to Amsterdam with a superb cast led by Maria Bengtsson and Angela Brower. 

Alexander Raskatov and Damiano Michieletto turn George Orwell’s fable into an opera of exceptional contemporary relevance.

Extraordinary singing and acting from Mariana Flores stands out in a joyous concert performance of one of the first operas ever written.

The Salzburg Festival's production of Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld is another classic in the making from Barrie Kosky.

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

Hagen, the first chapter in the Theater an der Wien's reimagining of The Ring, features music from Das Rhinegold and Götterdämmerung woven seamlessly together, telling the story from the perspective of Hagen, son of Nibelung dwarf, Alberich.

Tatjana Gürbaca’s whole scale tampering with Wagner’s Siegfried had so many flashbacks and flashforwards there should have been a warning for photosensitive members of the audience.  

In an elegant new production by Ivo van Hove, Malin Byström portrays a graceful, erotic Salome and the RCO play with sensuous lyricism under Daniele Gatti.

Clarity and mounting horror in the orchestra pit, the full truth and ugliness of the human condition onstage. Dutch National Opera’s new production of Wozzeck is stomach-churning for all the right reasons.

Louis Andriessen’s new opera is a masterly expedition into the grand and grotesque mind of Athanasius Kircher, polymath and fantastist, but it is hampered by a clumsy libretto.

To celebrate its 50th birthday Dutch National Opera put on a festive tribute to the people that have made it the innovative and much-admired house it is today.

The task sounded Herculean: turning Benvenuto Cellini, that reputedly difficult, flawed work by Berlioz, into an utterly entertaining show that renders justice to its youthfully energetic music. This is what Terry Gilliam manages to pull off... and it is nothing short of miraculous.

Pierre Audi's final Holland Festival closes with Calliope Tsoupaki's new ancient Greek oratorio about Oedipus.

Martijn Padding's opera Laika is let down by its libretto, which illustrates that though authors may write successful novels, this doesn’t necessarily imply they can also produce good theatre texts.

A tremendous performance of one of Rameau's great stage works, but one that raised questions about the plot in concert form.

Out of the swamp: Marcel Beekman rocks the house in Robert Carsen’s glittering take on Platée.

The new Netherlands Opera performance of Richard Wagner’s only comic opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg was an absolute success. Spanning a daunting four-and-a-half hours, the evening kept us wanting more rather than searching for the clock.

La mise en scène de l'ex-directeur du Komische Oper de Berlin s'appuie sur une foule multicolore qui ne suffit pas à transcender les limites de l'opéra-bouffe d'Offenbach.

Malgré la direction décapante de Jérémie Rhorer, cette nouvelle production pâtit d'une distribution globalement peu à son avantage et d'une mise en scène tiède et littérale.

Une direction musicale et une mise en scène bien ternes privent l'Eugène Onéguine proposé par le Théâtre des Champs-Elysées du lyrisme passionné pourtant si caractéristique du chef-d'œuvre de Tchaïkovski.

Reprise mitigée de l'opéra de Richard Strauss au Théâtre des Champs-Elysées : Olga Pudova, Camilla Nylund et Kate Lindsey tiennent le haut du pavé ; Katie Mitchell échoue à divertir.

Annoncée comme un des sommets de la saison lyrique nationale, la recréation française de La finta pazza de Sacrati à l’Opéra de Dijon tient toutes ses promesses.

Regisseur Claus Guth und Laurence Cummings am Pult formen Händels Saul zu einem berührenden Gesamtkunstwerk.

L’association prometteuse de William Christie des Arts Florissants avec le metteur en scène Robert Carsen ambitionnait de restituer sur instruments d’époque l’opéra-ballet du compositeur français André Campra (1660-1744). Pari réussi.

In der Inszenierung von Claus Guth bestechen der Blick in menschliche Abgründe und Komik gleichermaßen. Jean-Christophe Spinosi dirigiert eine exzellente Besetzung und „Elektronik meets Originalklang“.

Après Platée, Robert Carsen renouvelle sa collaboration avec William Christie cette saison avec Les Fêtes vénitiennes de Campra : un véritable spectacle, alliant musique exaltée et danses endiablées. Un pur joyau, jouissif sur tous les plans.