En direct, Vidéo: Rechercher des critiques de musique classique, opéra et ballet | Brooke

A new collaboration between Aldeburgh Music, Opera North and The Royal Opera produced mixed results: while Francisco Coll's Café Kafka was a characterful piece which combined humour with darker undertones, Elspeth Brooke's The Commission proved less successful.

It’s all about puppets at the moment, from War Horse to Madama Butterfly – even Studio Ghibli’s complicated cult film Princess Mononoke has had the puppet treatment – and the latest musical project to do the string thing, so to speak, is from the London Sinfonietta.