Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Peter Mumford

There's no faulting the execution, but the former Python's take on Berlioz's dramatic legend is worryingly inconsistent in tone. 

Crowning this cycle came a truly magnificent performance of Götterdämmerung, centred very much on Richard Farnes and his orchestra.

While the Welsh were merrily slaying Belgians in Euro 2016, one dragon was on the receiving end at the Royal Festival Hall.

In Anna Russell's wittily deadpan analysis of Wagner's Ring cycle, she describes Wotan as “the head god” – pausing for dramatic effect before adding “and he's a crashing bore too.”

Opera North's cycle offers a form of personal Wagner therapy: all four music dramas in concert performances, but with carefully choreographed video and lighting effects. 

Opera North's Andrea Chénier at Leeds Grand Theatre directed by Annabel Arden is full of modern relevance and a fine start to the new season

Birmingham Royal Ballet presents its Variations Triple Bill at Sadler’s Wells, with works by George Balanchine, Frederick Ashton and David Bintley

Der fliegende Holländer at Leeds Town Hall shows Opera North at its most exciting, in a production conducted by Richard Farnes, with Béla Perencz and Alwyn Mellor.

A brilliantly successful performance of Götterdämmerung by Opera North to bring its four-year Ring to a fiery close.