Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Duke Bluebeard's Castle

The evening starts with life-affirming Beethoven – and then, the Budapest Festival Orchestra demonstrate just how good native Hungarians can be in Bartók’s chiller. 

A mad March hare, a murdered child, a hypochondriac prince, and a roomful of dead wives make for a stellar concert by the Houston Symphony Orchestra. 

Yannick Nézet-Séguin led a blazing performance of Bluebeard's Castle, although interpretations of Wagner and Debussy sounded tired and under-rehearsed. 

Strong performances from Elīna Garanča, Barbara Hannigan and John Relyea plus innovative stage direction make for a standout production.

A semi-staging of Bartók's tale of doors and brides at the Coliseum is saved from disaster when Jennifer Johnston steps in to sing Judith at very short notice, with the part gamely acted by Crispin Lord.

Alan Gilbert and his NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester partner first Igor Levit, and then Michelle DeYoung and Gerald Finley, in a night of outstanding music-making devoted to the music of Bartók.

Before the planned program of Bartók and Haydn, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and conductor Karina Canellakis honor Seiji Ozawa with Bach's Air on a G String. 

Michele Mariotti and Johannes Erath lead us into the caverns of Il tabarro and Bluebeard’s Castle with two stories of violence against women 

Boston Lyric Opera decamps to a 1919 wharf shed for a production of Bartók's eerie two-hander, framed by four of Alma Mahler's songs. 

Romeo Castellucci's intense production of Bartók's opera reaps its rewards in the performance under Teodor Currentzis, but Carl Orff's opera-oratorio De temporum fine comoedia feels little more than a drab filler. 

The RLPO impresses in a sensitive concert staging of Bartók's operatic masterpiece, with intense singing from Károly Szemerédy and Adrienn Miksch.

A controversial new production of Bluebeard's Castle by Andriy Zholdak in which Bartók's opera is played out twice... 

Role and production debuts in no way diminished the psychological impact of this intense hour with Bartók and Balázs.

A semi-staged performance of the two early 20th-century modernist works at the New York Philharmonic featured excellent soloists, great production and an inspired orchestra led by Jaap van Zweden.

In a program devoted to Béla Bartók, the visitors from Hungary conveyed both a distinct uniqueness of their heritage as well as a possibility of music as a tool for communication and understanding.

Mariusz Treliński's double bill pairing returns to the Metropolitan Opera with fine performances from Sonya Yoncheva and Gerald Finley in the leads. 

Performing arts duo Ricci/Forte throw what feels like the entire directorial arsenal at this production.

Powerful and evocative imagery, both literal and implied, lingered on beyond the drop of the curtain.

Joshua Bloom and Paula Murrihy excel in Irish National Opera's staging of Bartók's opera, although director Enda Walsh takes too many liberties with the libretto. 

In a sensational Hungarian double bill of taut psychological drama at Müpa, Péter Eötvös' Senza sangue proves a thrilling partner to Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle.

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 double bill of operas that were literally made for each other, Péter Eötvös wrote his one act masterpiece Senza sangue in 2015 to act as a partner piece for Bartók's Duke Bluebeard’s Castle.

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.

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 Philadelphia Orchestra presented an exciting and fresh performance of Swan Lake selections and Bluebeard's Castle, led by its energetic music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Péter Eötvös conceived his opera Senza Sangue (Without Blood) as a complement to Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle. Dmitri Tcherniakov has now staged and designed Senza Sangue together with Bluebeard's Castle for Staatsoper Hamburg.

The Doors of Perception swung wide at Symphony Hall as Charles Dutoit led the Boston Symphony in an unusual and engrossing pairing of Mozart’s boisterous, Haydenesque Symphony no. 39 in E flat, K543, and Bartók’s one-act opera, Duke Bluebeard’s Castle,

David Radok links two expressionist works, Bartók's Duke Bluebeard's Castle and Schoenberg's Erwartung, to the advantage of the Bartók.

Hungarian critic Sandor Hevesy once declared that Bluebeard’s Castle was “far too dark”. Yet, Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle and Miraculous Mandarin are probably the summation of his orchestral journey. And what better experience then making it to Budapest, to hear it in its birthplace?

Charles Dutoit and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra are the stars in a demanding programme of Dvořák and Bartók.

The Cleveland Orchestra and Joffrey Ballet team up for staged performances of Bartók's The Miraculous Mandarin and Bluebeard's Castle. 

A daring, fascinating pairing of two modern operas by Krzysztof Warlikowski in Paris. 

Emerging artists to the fore as each of these two-handers engage us in differing exposés of puzzles, one comic, one tragic.

The Met's première of Iolanta and Bluebeard's Castle, delayed by snow, opened with powerful singing and deeply effective staging. Iolanta showcased beautiful singing from the principals, while Bluebeard's Castle showed off brilliant playing by the Met Orchestra.

Bartók's Duke Bluebeard’s Castle makes for an enthralling evening, both in its depth of psychology, its amazing score and in the RPO’s colour filled performance, with stand-ins Sir Willard White and Ildikó Komlósi in fine voice.

Where is the line? Where does the stage end and the audience begin? This is what Australian director Barrie Kosky probes in his production pairing Purcell's Dido and Aeneas with Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle.

Two Eastern European masterpieces were given gripping readings by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Edward Gardner.

Twenty-eight immobile cast members faced the audience from the long white bench which comprised the totality of Katrin Lea Tag’s bare set. Meanwhile, a floor-level, period instrument orchestra delivered the attention-grabbing, minor key Overture to Purcell's 1688 Dido and Aeneas.

L'œuvre de Bartók bénéficie de la direction éloquente du chef finlandais, dans une grande salle Pierre Boulez idéale pour cette partition.

Initialement prévue pour janvier 2022, la collaboration entre le Gran Teatre del Liceu et l’Opéra national de Paris a finalement accouché en cette fin de saison de son très attendu Château de Barbe-Bleue.

El compositor Peter Eötvös se pone al frente de la Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música para dirigir su ópera Senza sangue muy bien complementada con El castillo de Barbazul.

L'Orchestre de Paris retrouve Nina Stemme et Gerald Finley pour une de leurs œuvres fétiches, Le Château de Barbe-Bleue. Pekka Kuusisto donne la création française du Concerto de Bryce Dessner.

Die deutsche Erstaufführung von Kaija Saariahos Vista ergänzt ein Programm raffinierter Orchesterfarben.

Katie Mitchells extreme Inszenierung bietet einen fesselnden Raum für Nina Stemme und John Lundgren.

Das WDR Sinfonieorchester führt die Reihe „Musik im Dialog“ mit Herzog Blaubarts Burg und einem Vortrag von Ferdinand von Schirach fort.

Trois jours de festivités musicales autour de Budapest ont révélé, pour sa première venue à la Philharmonie de Paris, le jeune chef Gábor Káli, dans un programme entièrement bartókien. À l'honneur ce dimanche : Le Château de Barbe-Bleue.

Das Budapest Festival Orchestra bringt mit einem Bartók-Programm ungarische Klangfarben in die Elbphilharmonie.

Daniel Harding, Pierre-Laurent Aimard und das Concertgebouw-Orchester brillieren mit Dvořáks Klavierkonzert und Bartóks Herzog Blaubarts Burg.

Im Stuttgarter Paketspostamt schafft Hans Op de Beeck mit seinem düsteren Bühnenbild die Gestalt gewordene Burg des Herzogs.