Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Sir Mark Elder

Its theme of the passing of everything from cherry blossom to opera houses made this a programme for the artistic perils of our time. 

The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment gets to strut its stuff on the Glyndebourne stage in a concert of Brahms and Beethoven. 

Fresh sounds from Anna Clyne, and the LPO serves up a sumptuous meal in Richard Strauss' Le Bourgeois gentilhomme.

Nine symphonies, five orchestras, two days: an immersive weekend as part of the Barbican's Beethoven 250 coverage featuring some of the UK's finest orchestras. 

Mark Elder conducts Mahler 2 with The Hallé in a measured but utterly compelling performance at Bridgewater Hall

Plenty of mustard with Ives' beguiling Americana and intelligent Beethoven from Kirill Gerstein.

Three Frenchmen and a Finn walk into a concert hall: The Hallé and Sir Mark Elder with Viktoria Mullova play Berlioz, Debussy, Ravel and Sibelius.

Sir Mark Elder conducts a memorable performance of Berlioz' masterpiece in Manchester's Bridgewater Hall.

Sir Mark Elder conducts The Hallé in Berlioz, Saint-Saëns with Stephen Hough and Vaughan Williams

Hugo Wolf once said “Brahms cannot exult”. He should have heard this.

Gorgeous playing under Sir Mark Elder wasn’t enough to mask the lack of theatrical drive in the scrupulously cast Dutch premiere of Delius’ most successful opera.

Mark Elder and the LPO's performance of Puccini's Le Willis proved interesting and frustrating in equal measure, rescued by a star performance from Ermonela Jaho.

The Hallé and Sir Mark Elder bring details and affection to Strauss' Don Quixote and Elgar's second symphony.

The Met's new season opens with a new Samson et Dalila only marginally more trashy than Saint-Saëns’ peculiar brand of kitschy orientalism.

Sir Mark Elder and The Hallé orchestra are the powerhouse in a memorable performance of Siegfried. Simon O’ Neill, Iain Paterson and Christine Goerke head up a universally strong cast.

It was only in the final moments of The Firebird that the orchestra let themselves go, following a series of sensitive and transparent performances.

Dismembered after the 1840 bankruptcy of its promoter, Opera Rara's decade-long reconstruction has resulted in a beautifully constructed opera that's enjoyable throughout.

An enjoyable and vivid performance representing music spanning three centuries of history

In the sublime funeral march of the Larghetto Elder set a daringly slow tempo, producing a cumulative, sorrowing eloquence as each LSO section tossed its melodic tribute on to the passing cortège.

A stirring account of Elgar’s First Symphony from Sir Mark Elder and the LSO, with a rare outing given to Janáček’s last orchestral work and Francesco Piemontesi polished in Bartók.

A thrilling concert by the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain conducted by Sir Mark Elder culminated in a sinister and atmospheric performance of Duke Bluebeard's Castle.

A superb start to the Britten Sinfonia's Brahms cycle.

"Muddle instead of music": three foreboding words laden with threat and designed to destroy the reputation of a promising composer writing in the grip of the Iron Fist. 

French impressionism met with programmatic Russian splendour in a collection of special works written just 40 years apart.

The Halle orchestra combined forces with a troup of actors to deliver a Beyond The Score analysis & performance of Dvorak's famous 9th Symphony (from the New World.)

Sir Mark Elder's 70th birthday Gurre-Lieder threatens to dislodge the roof in Manchester with the combined forces of the Hallé and BBC Philharmonic

A concert programme that includes both Holst and Vaughan Williams is as right as strawberries and cream at Wimbledon. 

Sir Mark Elder conducted the LSO through a series of inimitable Russian works while the star player veered off course to formulate her own new genre – quite deliciously.

A classy performance under the baton of Sir Mark Elder unites a seemingly disparate sounding programme.

The Hallé's Elgar Festival concludes with the work the composer wished to be remembered by. 

It was here in Manchester, only a stone’s throw from the modern Bridgewater Hall, where Hans Richter gave the first – and by all accounts, highly acclaimed – performance of Elgar’s First Symphony.

The Metropolitan Opera's new produdtion of Rusalka fails to explore a deeper complexity of the fairy tale, although a strong ensemble of singers and the superb Met Orchestra make it a musically compelling performance.

The Hallé's oddly-ordered Ring arrives at the beginning with Das Rheingold.

The Hallé and Sir Mark Elder gave superb performances of Tchaikovsky's Hamlet and, with Benjamin Grosvenor, Liszt's Piano Concerto no 1. Their Beethoven Pastoral Symphony was disappointing in contrast.

Complete performances of Semiramide are as rare as hen's teeth. Opera Rara came close in a terrific concert performance in the Hanging Gardens of Kensington.

A strange combination of a Berlioz overture, a commemorative work and Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde with the Hallé, Sir Mark Elder, Alice Coote, Gregory Kunde and Leonard Elschenbroich.

Weaknesses in the staging did little to dim the musical pleasure of hearing Sir Mark Elder conduct Weber's masterpiece with OAE forces and an impressvee cast

The Hallé’s end-of-season Dvořák festival continued with the Seventh Symphony, Cello Concerto and Slavonic Dance no. 2 from the Op.72 set. 

The Hallé and Sir Mark Elder start their Dvořák festival with a concert demonstrating the glories of his lesser known music including Francesco Piemontesi starring in the Piano Concerto.

To mark the centenary of the Battle of the Somme, Mark Elder and the London Symphony Orchestra brought together music with a connection to the First World War.

A superb concert from the Hallé and Sir Mark Elder included John Casken's 2014 oboe concerto Apollinaire's Bird, a rare piece by Elgar and Vaughan Williams' powerful Fourth Symphony. 

Jeremy Denk gave an athletic performance of Bartók's formidable second piano concerto, complemented by a Dvořák overture and two major works of Janáček.

Elder and Elgar prove to be a winning cominbation at the Chicago Symphony.

Stravinsky, Delius's evokation of the experience of Norwegain mountains, Rachmaninov and Tchaikosky in a stunning concert by the Hallé, the Hallé Choir and Sir Mark Elder 

Sir Mark Elder conducted the Hallé in a fine Shostakovich 15 following moving performances of Rachmaninov's The Isle of the Dead and Mahler's Kindertotenlieder, expertly sung by Roderick Williams.

Poor intelligibility and lack of pace in the music or acting make L'Étoile into a disappointingly flat evening.

Sir Mark Elder led the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and an inspired team of soloists headed by Klaus Florian Vogt into a highly-charged performance of Lohengrin.

A Tchaikovsky rarity conducted by talented newcomer Harish Shankar were followed by Beethoven and Rachmaninov played by established masters Stephen Hough and Mark Elder in a fine Hallé concert.

This performance marked Sir Mark Elder’s debut with the company and, beginning with the overture, he offered his individual interpretation of the score. He had an enormous range of dynamics and his tempi varied widely with the emotional values of each scene.

Sir Mark Elder conducts the Hallé in a fine account of Verdi's Requiem at the Bridgewater Hall