Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews

With expert assistance from Dennis Russell Davies, the overlooked Brno Philharmonic makes the most of a contemporary cantata.

In his Wigmore Hall recital Nikolai Lugansky surveys the Russian seasons and explores Polish dance rhythms.

Fabien Gabel and the Orchestre Symphonique de Quebec present inventive and colorful musical pictures by Schmitt, El-Khoury, Honegger, Zappa and Richard Strauss.

Temirkanov avoided any useless gesture, while Leticia Moreno explored all the pain, sadness and violence of Shostakovich’s Concerto

Bernard Haitink conducts the London Symphony Orchestra in a deeply moving account of Mahler's Ninth Symphony at the Barbican the day after the tragedy in Manchester.

An earthy – if slow – Pictures at an Exhibition from Yuri Simonov and the Moscow Philharmonic in Basingstoke is like a musical step back in time. 

Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra gave a lesson in ethnomusicology as part of the their all-Bartók programme, which culminated in a towering performance of Bluebeard's Castle.

There are not many classical musicians on the international circuit who could achieve the ‘legend’ status; whose concerts would be attended by adoring fans rushing to the stage at the conclusion of the recital, who would be referred to by a nickname, suggesting an ongoing relationship and familiarity with their fans.

Franziska Gottwald's superb mezzo voice and technique combined with dedicated commitment to text makes for a satisfying concert at Rosdorf near Göttingen during the Handel festival

A woman, mother and outcast needs to make life choices in a hostile environment.

Energetic playing, clarity and precision from Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques in three dramatic pieces by Monteverdi, but some weighty singing obscures the detail. 

Luther in Worms, Meinardus's paean to the great Reformer, is permeated by the German nationalism of the 1870s.

Piotr Anderszewski played and conducted Mozart and Beethoven concertos with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe plus pieces by Bartók and Janáček. An ideal partnership and fine performances.

Tom Cairns' production feels empty and distracted, but Kristina Mkhitaryan was a sensational Violetta, strongly reinforced by an impressive Germont from Igor Golovatenko.

Sven-Eric Bechtolf’s minimalist staging brought the protagonists’ complicated psychological interaction into focus but to the detriment of Wagner’s myth and magic.

At Carnegie Hall, a lion in winter focuses on Chopin.

The advantage of staging a rare opera such as Cavalli's Hipermestra at Glyndebourne this year is that the director can work with a blank canvas without audience’s preconceptions.

The Orchestre Pasdeloup contributes tales to the Philharmonie's Mille et une Nuits festival of music inspired by the Orient. 

With barely time for coffee and baklava after the Orchestre Pasdeloup's Arabian matinee, I stepped boldly back into the harem for a rendezvous with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse. 

An outstanding cast and Anthony Pilavachi's excellent production make a compelling case for Cinq-Mars at Oper Leipzig.

Stravinsky and Arvo Pärt’s modernism trumps Rachmaninov’s romanticism with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta. 

Iain Paterson's house debut as the Holländer was sufficient reason to drop anchor in the Main for this revival of David Bösch's 2015 production. 

Renaud Doucet and André Barbe’s La bohème for Scottish Opera set in the jazz-age is packed with Parisian life. 

Intended to signify the contribution of Russian music to the Western canon, the Royal Choral Society gave admirable performances of two major choral works, rarely heard in Winchester Cathedral.

Teatro alla Scala ballet is definitely on the rise. Bigonzetti creates Progetto Händel on Zakharova and Bolle, prompting a standing ovation of almost 20 minutes  

The origins of chamber music lie in a wish for music that could fit within a small room. On display at the New York Philharmonic last Friday were recent contributions that wished for the opposite.

Handel's Opera Lotario is the centrepiece for this year's Göttingen Handel festival, receiving warm acclaim on its opening night.

Violinist Veronika Eberle has a successful San Francisco debut with the tricky Schumann concerto while the SF Symphony sounds somewhat limp under Robert Abbado with Busoni's Turandot and Mendelssohn's Scottish. 

Annabelle Lopez Ochoa has created a masterpiece with her A Streetcar Named Desire for Scottish Ballet.

A superstar soloist helps the Toronto Symphony Orchestra offer a telling tribute to Czech conductor Karel Ančerl.

Alas, putting two stars (Kochetkova and Cornejo) together is no guarantee of success and that was certainly the case here.

Mark Le Brocq portrays a convincing Gerontius while other soloists, choir and orchestra deliver a fine, moving performance of Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius.

Renée Fleming swoons in Strauss' Four Last Songs, while having Christian Thielemann and the Staatskapelle Dresden are our guides in the Alpine Symphony. 

The score of Goldmark's opera is filled with lovely orchestral surprises, in addition to stunning arias, but is often filled with an abundance of slow tempos.

The Comunale had teamed up with Bologna's basketball team Virtus to create a 50%-off ticket deal aimed at drawing new audiences. The subject matter of this opera might not seem the most immediately accessible, but this was playing to capture the imaginations of opera newbies.

Leif Ove Andsnes is supremely eloquent in Rachmaninov’s Fourth, but Strauss's Macbeth looks set to remain on the fringes. 

Franz Welser-Möst conducted the concert, which also included the world première of Anthony Cheung's Topos and two Haydn symphonies.

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

Philipp Stölzl's production of Der fliegende Holländer, which places the action within a giant frame in a library, arrives at The Liceu.

Virtuosity commanded the stage in the first half, drama and mood in the second, with Liam Scarlett’s new ballet a fitting tribute to the retiring Zenaida Yanowsky

Canteloube's Chants d'Auvergne provide the highlight of a programme including Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé and his orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. 

Staged at Dutch National Opera’s workshop, Madrigals reduces the distance between public and performers and creates a real sensorial experience. 

One might have hoped for a memorable performance of the work for its absolute première at the Carlo Felice. Instead, this was an experience to quickly forget.

In this year's London Festival of Baroque Music, the programme of Austrian Baroque rarities by Swiss-based early music group Les Passions de l’Ame particularly caught my eye.

A moving, meditative evening with the dancers of Abraham.In.Motion in Kyle Abraham's latest and perhaps most personal work at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts 

Joseph Haydn’s opera Orlando Paladino was once cited as “a mixed salad of madness, mayhem and true love”. A recent revival in Zurich supports that assessment.

This was an unmissable evening in which Prokofiev’s formidable “War” sonatas were given a rare and unforgettable outing – all three at a single sitting.   

Mozart's “pasticcio concertos”, composed at the remarkable age of 11, may lack integral vibrancy and brilliance, but are brought to life by an exuberant Bezuidenhout

In April, Peter Mattei and Anna Netrebko were starring together in Eugene Onegin at the Metropolitan Opera. Less than a month later and they are reunited in Paris in Willy Decker's staging.

A probing, exultant and musically tireless performance from The English COncert.