Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Symphony no. 1 in A flat major, Op.55

Adrian Partington opens the 2026 Three Choirs Festival with a powerful performance of music by Elgar and Walton, plus a UK premiere from Gavin Higgins. 

Kazuki Yamada selects a regal Mozart piano concerto and a sprawling Elgar symphony for his Cleveland Orchestra debut.

Andrew Manze conducts the RLPO in an arresting performance of Weinberg's Cello Concerto with Sheku Kanneh-Mason. 

The RPO, in great form under Petrenko, deliver exciting Auerbach and propulsive Elgar, with Lugansky shining bright in Rachmaninov. 

Kazuki Yamada and the CBSO demonstrate the mercurial tension in Britten’s Serenade and Elgar’s First Symphony in the season finale. 

Edward Gardner and the LPO offer powerful Elgar and luscious Coleridge-Taylor in their “Three Britons” programme at the Royal Festival Hall.

A trio of English works, including the UK premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage's virtuosic Time Flies. 

Sounding under-rehearsed and unloved, these performances of two great works made for a frustrating evening that could have been so much more inspiring.   

The CBSO Youth Orchestra under Kazuki Yamada find connections in three works inhabiting very different worlds.

Ulster Orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor Jac van Steen returns to lead an outstanding evening, culminating in Elgar’s First Symphony. Louis Schwizgebel impresses in Saint-Saens’ Fifth Piano Concerto. 

English and Russian repertoire for Switzerland's oldest symphony orchestra. 

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.

New and old rubbed shoulders in this thrilling Philharmonia Orchestra concert of Elgar and Joseph Phibbs.

Conducted by Edward Gardner, the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra brought a fresh approach to Elgar's First Symphony.

Barenboim has a long relationship with Elgar's music, but the Staatskapelle's love affair is more recent, still in the passionate, excitable phase of discovery.

Lively and joyful Schubert, elegant Mozart, and urgency, pace and exhilarating command in Elgar from Ashkenazy and the Philharmonia.

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.

Johannes Moser summmoned the other in Dutilleux's Baudelaire-inspired cello concerto, but the BBC Philharmonic and Juanjo Mena gave a mundane account of Elgar's First Symphony. 

Oramo and the BBC Symphony Orchestra negotiate a challenging first half with works by Bax and Dean, followed by a superb rendering of Elgar's first symphony

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

A superb partnership between Osmo Vänskä and the LPO created a thrilling account of Elgar’s First Symphony but put Korngold’s Violin Concerto in the shade.

Beautifully interpreted performance of Mozart and Elgar at Sydney's Opera House, with Ross Edwards' White Ghosts Dancing. 

Ryan Wigglesworth proves a fine interpreter of not only his own work in his return visit to the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

John Wilson directs the National Youth Orchestra directs the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain in a staggering performance of unbridled enthusiasm.

A notable London première for William Mathias' finely crafted Violin Concerto, but a fierce, bruising account of Elgar's First Symphony disappoints at the BBC NOW's Prom. 

Steven Osborne's Mozart with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra captivates whilst Gardner's Elgar does not entirely convince.

Britain is a country not often historically associated with great composers, repertoire or music: apart from the occasional early music programme peppered with Purcell or production of Peter Grimes, there is a great tendency to overlook British classical music, both past and present, in favour of its Germanic and Slavic cousins.

The music of Herbert Howells has long been a fixture in British churches but continues to be absent from our concert halls. It’s true that much of his output, and almost all of his most popular works, are for unaccompanied choir or choir and organ, but his orchestral works include two piano concertos, a fantasia for cello and orchestra and several works for string orchestra among their number.

The Hallé orchestra’s concerts around Britain take them to a number of towns which do not normally get to hear top-quality orchestral concerts, with forthcoming performances in Kendal, Carlisle and Derby and others. The excitement and sense of occasion were therefore quite obvious as the crowds gathered for Sibelius, Mahler and Elgar in Perth Concert Hall.

Magistral y evocadora interpretación en una velada marcada por el refinado sonido del violinista James Ehnes acompañado por Sinfónica de Galicia.

Die Bamberger Symphoniker lieferten mit Elgars Erster Symphonie ein zuckersüßes Icing auf dem Straussschen Horn-Konzert.

En compagnie de l'Orchestre de Paris et de Jean-Guihen Queyras, le chef britannique proposait un programme des plus passionnants au public parisien.

Die Münchner Philharmoniker überzeugen mit Alan Gilbert und Lisa Batiashvili in der Philharmonie im Gasteig mit einem Programm mit Werken von Sibelius und Elgar.

Émouvante fête de famille à l’Auditorium de Lyon à l’occasion d’une clôture exceptionnelle de saison.

Schmackhafte Debütleistungen sorgen für famose Ausdeutungen zweier Repertoire-Hammer.

Eine besondere und interessante Werkauswahl erwartete mich an diesem Abend in der Laeiszhalle. Mit der 1. Symphonie von Edward Elgar die das NDR Elbphilharmonieorchester unter der Leitung des finnischen Dirigenten Sakari Oramo spielte. Für das Violinkonzert von Benjamin Britten kam die junge norwegische Geigerin Vilde Frang als Solistin hinzu.

La Staatskapelle Berlin y el maestro Barenboim ofrecieron un intenso concierto, con una memorable Sinfonía núm. 1 de Elgar

Réunissant une programmation éclectique, la direction musicale faisait ici le pari de réunir trois grands compositeurs pourtant peu joués et dont les liens musicaux semblaient peu évidents : Hector Berlioz, Sir Edward Elgar et Benjamin Britten.