Rechercher des critiques de musique classique, opéra et ballet | James Platt

Premier grand rendez-vous lyrique de la saison 2016-2107, le Requiem de Verdi a tonné dans l’Auditorium de Lyon ce jeudi 24 septembre. Entre la transparence de la lumière divine et la foudre du jugement dernier, chœurs, solistes et instrumentistes ont épuisé toute la palette sonore à leur disposition.

Deutsche Oper Berlin’s new production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a delightful and whimsical homage to Britten’s masterpiece. The orchestra, soloists and children’s chorus performed with energy and charm under the baton of Donald Runnicles.

Welsh National Opera brought a cast of strong voices to Birmingham for a production of Rigoletto intriguingly set in the White House of the 1960s. 

It’s a small miracle that the production has been recreated so well in such a short time frame.

Dominic Cooke’s Magritte-inspired production returns to Wales Millennium Centre to keep the audience giggling. 

Deutsche Oper Berlin staged an ambitious production by Laurence Pelly with mixed results. The performance included new discoveries and young singers brought fresh energy to the evening.

Edward Gardner opens the Hallé's Thursday series with dramatic Strauss and Janáček.

WNO make a compelling case for Prokofiev's gargantuan War and Peace.

Lars Vogt and Royal Northern Sinfonia deliver Beethoven's Symphony no. 9 with swaggering self-confidence, and heroic chorus singing.

Director Oliver Mears turns Scottish Opera’s Eugene Onegin into a memory play, with fine singing from a strong cast starring Natalya Romaniv as a thrilling Tatyana.  

Alessandro Talevi's production of Don Giovanni, conducted by Christoph Altstaedt, receives a welcome revival at the Grand Theatre, Leeds. 

Auch wenn das Oratorium wohl bekannt ist, die Besetzungspraxis und schnelle Tempi weiß Gott nicht neu sind, so darf diese Wiedergabe von vier Teilen bisher ungehört gewesen sein.

There are no answers, nor indeed many probing questions, in this Scottish Opera revival of Sir David McVicar’s production from 2008, but it is sumptuous and enjoyable.

In an elegant new production by Ivo van Hove, Malin Byström portrays a graceful, erotic Salome and the RCO play with sensuous lyricism under Daniele Gatti.

The BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus grow in stature through an evening which provides a good introduction to the virtues of Dvořák’s seldom-played large scale choral work.

Daniele Gatti is the winner of the night, managing to draw an astounding outcome from a far from ideal cast.

Complete performances of Semiramide are as rare as hen's teeth. Opera Rara came close in a terrific concert performance in the Hanging Gardens of Kensington.

The ultimate musical misnomer, Rossini's last major work is beautifully sung in the wonderful surroundings of the Chapel of the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich.

A disappointing staging for the Jette Parker Young Artists' annual showcase at the Royal Opera House. 

Richard Jones new production of Mussorgsky's episodic epic has plenty of strengths, but is marred by unappealing designs and rushed tempi.

Even us Verdi enthusiasts experience something of a heavy tread as we wend our way to yet another Traviata at the Royal Opera House.

Would a younger soprano taking the role of Tatyana blur Kasper Holten's "dancing doubles" vision of Eugene Onegin at the Royal Opera House?

Jane Archibald and Ruxandra Donose provide a compelling prologue to Ariadne auf Naxos, while Karita Mattila's majestic performance lights up the opera seria second half.

School’s out for summer and with it the opportunity for the Royal Opera’s Jette Parker Young Artists to showcase their talents in the end of term main stage performance. 

Any revival of La traviata stands or falls by its principals and their ability to inhabit the roles rather than merely sing them prettily. A good revival director helps. 

With its latest incarnation of Die Zauberflöte, the Royal Opera ticks all the boxes in a strongly cast revival. 

Former RSC Artistic Director Michael Boyd imparts a distinctly Shakespearean flavour to Monteverdi's L'Orfeo in this first collaboration between the Royal Opera and the Roundhouse.

Figaro rules the roost on the main stage this autumn, but buried in the Nibelheim of the Linbury Studio, Rossini'ss early comedy La scala di seta receives its first ever production by the Royal Opera.

Despite a relatively easy-to-follow storyline, Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro is an opera that is hard to pull off entirely successfully. Musically, it requires enormous vigour from both cast and orchestra; dramatically, this opera buffa demands strong acting skills in order to eke out its moments of farce.

Opera school productions are designed to provide experience for their students and showcase their talents to an audience sprinkled with casting directors. Clearly, the Guildhall School have decided to extract maximum value from their current production by staging not one opera but three, with different casts and even different orchestral musicians.