Festival: London 2012 Festival

Birmingham Opera Company’s production of Mittwoch aus Licht, Karlheinz Stockhausen’s six-hour sonic exploration of light, love, and the boundlessness of the human imagination, was a triumph from start to finish, and an unforgettable experience. Graham Vick’s spectacular production fostered a sense of child-like wonder that continued unabated throughout the night.

Dance GB is a collaboration between the UK's three national dance companies, Scottish Ballet, National Dance Company Wales, and English National Ballet.

Can a concert have ever been so eagerly anticipated? In 2006 Richard Holloway, then chair of the Scottish Arts Council, went on a fact-finding visit to Venezuela to look at El Sistema, where intensive classical music tuition in schools and the formation of orchestras has developed a successful track record of transforming attitudes in desperately poor and violent communities.