Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Sydney Opera House: Concert Hall

Putting Gershwin up against Mahler is a challenge, but Simone Young and Jean-Yves Thibaudet bring it off in the Sydney Symphony's 2026 season opener. 

Terrific orchestral colours abound in this Sydney Symphony concert under Simone Young, adding to a thoughtful and emotive rendering of one of the best-known cello concertos.

A delightful programme welcomes conductor Lionel Bringuier and returning cellist Daniel Müller-Schott to Sydney.

Three very different works from the long life of Richard Strauss are performed by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under Simone Young.

Stephen Layton conducts Haydn and Handel, and is joined by soprano Sara Macliver for Bach and Mozart for a joyful evening. 

Elim Chan expertly conducts the SSO through a varied programme featuring an Australian fanfare, Russian ballet music and Brahms' First Piano Concerto with Sir Stephen Hough. 

After so many terrific concerts in the last few months, Petrenko's performance with the SSO does not quite fulfill expectations.

Wotan's predicaments provide Sydney's victory: Chief Conductor Simone Young has her musicians on some of their best form in recent years, with only a few question marks over an excellent concert performance.

In the run-up to Bastille Day, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra offers an entirely French programme under the baton of Stéphane Denève, with Olivier Latry as organ soloist.

Making her debut on the conductor’s podium, Han-Na Chang’s enthusiastic musicality makes a strong impression at the Sydney Opera House, in Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto no. 2 and Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony.

A faultless performance of whisper-quiet intimacy alternating with thundering counterpoint as the Icelandic pianist makes his much anticipated Australian debut. 

Can a perfect performance of the stupendous Gurrelieder be anything other than five stars?

A powerful season-opening concert featuring Renaud Capuçon playing the Australian premiere of Camille Pépin's Violin Concerto Le Sommeil a pris ton empreinte. 

Sydney revels in Joshua Bell's masterful violin playing and leadership of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields on their Australian tour.

Joshua Bell directs the Academy of St Martin in the Fields in lively, well-crafted performances of Prokofiev and Mendelssohn in the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall. 

The first programme in Stephen Hough's Sydney series sees him offer sensitive but not incandescent Rachmaninov, followed by thrilling performances of Respighi's Roman Trilogy under John Wilson. 

In the last of the LSO's Sydney concerts, Sir Simon Rattle's affinity with Bruckner's score results in a heartfelt performance of the Seventh Symphony.

The LSO opens its three-concert Sydney stay with a panoply of colours and virtuoso orchestral playing in a programme of Adams, Debussy and Ravel, under the masterful leadership of Sir Simon Rattle

Donald Runnicles demonstrates his superior musicianship in a warm, intelligently crafted reading of Brahms' Symphony no. 2 in D major, with Andrea Lam as a sensitive and reserved soloist in Robert Schumann's Piano Concerto.

A thrilling account of Mahler's First Symphony under Simone Young launches the Sydney Symphony Orchestra's 2023 season, with Mahler's Blumine and Debussy's Ariettes oubliées on the undercard.

Simone Young  is made of stern stuff. With 30 hours to go before the concert performance, her Leonore falls ill. Can the show go on? 

Antonín Dvořák’s Cello Concerto takes Sydney audiences to Czech forests before Eduardo Strausser conducts excerpts from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet. 

Zubin Mehta conducts a trio of Strauss tone poems as the Australian World Orchestra arrives back in Sydney. 

Hahn’s practically faultless rendering also offered a most pleasing freshness and joy of spontaneity.

Simone Young marks the start of her tenure at the helm of the Sydney Symphony with a performance that showcases the outstanding acoustics of the renovated Concert Hall.

As the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall closes for extensive refurbishment, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra performs early, massive Mahler under Simone Young. 

Contrasting works as the Sydney Symphony tackles Les Offrandes oubliées and Bruckner's Seventh Symphony.

A successful concert performance of Umberto Giordano's verismo hit in Sydney, with a trio of international stars. 

Setting aside a disappointing first movement of the Eroica, the Berlin Staatskapelle under Barenboim deliver another polished and persuasive performance in their third Sydney concert.

The Berlin Staatskapelle begins their three-concert Sydney series with a thrilling account of Brahms's first two symphonies in Sydney. 

Voltaire and Bernstein's wilful political incorrectness make Candide a challenge to behold, but the Sydney Philharmonia meets them in a concert performance in the opera house.

On their return to Sydney, the Australian World Orchestra under Riccardo Muti offer a subdued reading of Brahms’ Symphony no. 2 and a thrilling account of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony no. 4.

C minor and C major are at the centre of Masaaki Suzuki's Haydn and Beethoven programme with the Sydney Symphony. 

Bracing and emotionally direct performances from the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Nicole Car, in a carefully-planned programme.

Imogen Cooper joined the Sydney Symphony for a performance of Beethoven's Second Piano Concerto. 

A vividly dramatic take on Verdi's Requiem by Opera Australia allows chorus and orchestra to shine under Renato Palumbo, and reminds us why the work has been called “opera in church clothing”.

As clearly visible on all photos, the Sydney Opera House has two “sails”, interconnected major sections. One of them houses concerts, the other operas. Opera performances, however, are not exclusively taking place in the Opera Theatre.

‘Dancing with the Orchestra’ was the last subscription concert of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and two compositions with a focus on dance bookended Béla Bartók’s Violin Concerto no. 2. 

The fascinating politics of this opera are diminished by the presentation of just four scenes. The music and three strong performances almost make up as Sydney gets its first taste of this work.

As the last stop of their five-city international tour, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra made its debut in the Sydney Opera House.

Joshua Bell brings star quality to the visit of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, with a stunning performance of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto the stand-out item on their first Sydney programme.

This week’s subscription concerts of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra featured only British music that was composed in the last century; three very different works in terms of compositional approach and musical language.

Interleaving Bach violin concertos with Haydn symphonies, the ACO give an energetic performance in the Sydney Opera House, with highlight solos from Richard Tognetti and Helena Rathbone.

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra scored a major win when they engaged Daniil Trifonov to visit for three orchestral concerts and a solo recital. 

One could hardly dream of a better concert to open the season than one featuring Maxim Vengerov as the guest soloist in Johannes Brahms' Violin Concerto in D major.

In a relatively traditional programme, the Australian Chamber Orchestra reach the heights thanks to soloist Slava Grigoryan (on guitar), and a scintillating performance of Beethoven's Symphony no. 7.

Take an overture from the Classical period, add a Romantic concerto and finish with a major work from the 20th century – a tried and proven concoction for a balanced orchestral concert. If these works follow a chronological order and become increasingly longer, so much the better.

The Sydney Symphony in a finely chiselled account of Vaughan Williams' “A London Symphony”, but groped for balance in Ravel and Bax.

Two days after his stimulating solo recital, Lang Lang returned to the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House for Grieg’s Piano Concerto.

Masaaki Suzuki’s debut with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.