For her London recital debut, Sondra Radvanovsky offered a varied programme of ranging from Bellini to Barber, showing off the technique with which she has dazzled American audiences.
Jumping in to cover for Valery Gergiev, Susanna Mälkki made a promising debut with the LSO, offering a commendable, if flawed, Also sprach Zarathustra.
Tara Erraught offered a programme that combined well-known arias with obscure German Lieder, showing off a voice strong in technique and colour that left the audience wanting more.
For the first of three concerts at the Cadogan Hall, the Vienna Tonkünstler Orchestra gave a heavy account of Beethoven's Piano Concerto no. 4, lightened by the graceful playing of Angela Hewitt, followed by a rich New World Symphony.
Clear playing from Pierre-Laurent Aimard in the Emperor Concerto and a sense of the dramatic in Also sprach Zarathustra brought life to old warhorses, while a new concerto from Tansy Davies made waves.
Continuing the 'German Romantic' series, Steffens and the Philharmonia gave an indulgent performance, culminating in a thrilling account of Brahms' Third.
Despite a condescending commentary, a strong performance from Anja Kampe as Leonore made this concert staging of Fidelio at the Royal Festival Hall thoroughly enjoyable.
An all-Tchaikovsky programme of opera and ballet was an appealing way to enter the Christmas period, especially under the energetic baton of Jac van Steen.
It's not his most commonly performed work, but with a crack team of vocal (and orchestral) soloists, Andrea Marcon and the Venice Baroque Orchestra gave a fabulous account of Vivaldi's only surviving oratorio.
In the first of its opera productions this season, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama presented an interesting combination of Stravinsky's odd little comedy, Mavra and Tchaikovsky's tale of the blind princess, Iolanta.
