Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Sian Edwards

Mark-Anthony Turnage's take on Neil Gaiman's classic young adult novella is well sung and well staged, without quite reaching peak intensity.

The Birmingham Contemporary Music Group present an ambitious mixture of experimental chamber music and disquieting monodrama. 

Problems of orchestral balance cloud Olivia Fuchs's straightforward, compelling staging of Janáček’s tirade against the rigidity and hypocrisy of small town society.

Karen Cargill returns to Scottish Opera as Judith in Bluebeard’s Castle in a double bill with The 8th Door, a new opera from Lliam Paterson and Vanishing Point’s Matthew Lenton.

The Palestine Youth Orchestra on their first UK tour perform a lively mix of Western and Arabic music with passion and a strong humanitarian message in the programming.

In-Nocentes is wonderful. Michael Keegan-Dolan and his team have drawn from the gifts and commitment of these young dancers to create original, rich and extraordinary dance.

There’s something decidedly odd about pitching up at Glyndebourne sans picnic hamper, wrapped up in heavy layers, the aroma of mulled wine wafting through the foyer... 

Sian Edwards leads a powerful exploration of Max’s chamber works at Cadogan Hall, with extraordinary solo turns from Tim Gill and Rebecca Bottone.

Through His Teeth is a gripping psychological drama. Bedford was commissioned by the Royal Opera House to write a piece on the subject of Faust, to run alongside the star-studded performances of Gounod’s opera on the main stage. Heartily recommended to anybody in need of an evening of modern drama and violence.

In a brief mid-concert interview for BBC Radio 3, conductor Sian Edwards was asked why Britten and his contemporaries wrote so much music for small string orchestra, and her answer illuminated the choice of programming for this Proms Saturday Matinee performance.

This Wednesday, London Sinfonietta presented Luke Bedford: In Portrait – a concert with a format that seemed almost too good to be true. In a short programme combining Luke Bedford’s Wonderful No-Headed Nightingale (2011–12), Renewal (2012–13) and Gérard Grisey’s Périodes (1974), conductor Sian Edwards and the London Sinfonietta beckoned us into a world of shifting soundscapes.

Paradox is unsurprising in the works of a composer who said: "The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees one's self of the chains that shackle the spirit." The often distancing neoclassical idiom seemed unable to deny Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress (1951) emotionally engaging and affecting music.

Schlank ist schön: Gekürzt und auf Violettas Kampf um Leben und Liebesglück fokussiert, begeistert Peter Konwitschnys Grazer Traviata-Inszenierung die Wiener. Marlis Petersen in der Titelpartie ist ein Ereignis.