En direct, Vidéo: Rechercher des critiques de musique classique, opéra et ballet | Jac van Steen

Britten's Cello Symphony and a no-holds-barred account of Shostakovich’s mighty Tenth Symphony at Snape Maltings

In the second concert of the new season, maintaining the highest musical standards, the Ulster Orchestra flourish in a highly considered programme.

Natalya Romaniw is a natural as our maligned heroine: Paul Curran creates staging of bewildering comic complexity and pulls it off with panache.

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. 

The Ulster Orchestra and Rosanne Philippens dazzle in Vaughan Williams and Sibelius under the baton of Jac van Steen.

In the city of Freud there is nothing like a bit of family drama to put one in the mood for a great season of opera!

Debussy’s opera of half-lights succeeds in taming the glare of the midsummer sun in Garsington’s new staging.

Ein uneingeschränktes „Bravi tutti“ ertönt für ausdrucksstarke Sänger und ein glänzendes Orchester in Korngolds selten gehörtem Mysterienspiel.

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.

Giselle Allen and David Kempster are on good form in a performance of highlights from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, conducted by Jac van Steen.

Irish mezzo soprano Rachel Kelly joins the Ulster Orchestra in an evening of richly coloured orchestration and exotic flavour, conducted by Jac van Steen. 

Two parts of Puccini's triptych are directed by Michael Barker-Craven - Il tabarro and Suor Angelica - in brilliantly successful productions at Leeds Grand Theatre.

A superb performance from Chloë Hanslip in the world premiere of Berkeley's Violin Concerto, with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under Jac van Steen polished but lacking bite in Dukas and Prokofiev.

The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra produced a varied programme at their Lighthouse concert, but with mixed results: illuminating Walton, but uneven Sibelius.

Benjamin Grosvenor reminded us what a magnificent piece of music Grieg's piano showpiece is in this sensational performance with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

Opera North's Così fan tutte directed by Tim Albery at the Grand Theatre, Leeds, is a welcome revival of an intelligent, nuanced production.

In der Regie von Achim Freyer und unter der Leitung von Jan van Steen zeigt die Volksoper Wien ihren neuen Don Giovanni.

At Garsington Opera, Richard Strauss' Intermezzo presents an utterly compelling picture of a mature marriage with its joys and trials; Mary Dunleavy brings it to life with a top class piece of acting.

Tragedy giving way to comedy – a recipe which still works, as demonstrated in Opera North's fine double bill of Gianni Schicchi and La vida breve.

A fine new edition of Mozart's Requiem recieves its UK première, overshadowed by a trenchant Sibelius Fourth from Opera North under Jac van Steen.

Jac van Steen and the Ulster Orchestra attempt to entice new audiences to classical music, with mixed results.

The second concert of the Philharmonia’s Brahms cycle saw Brahms’ orchestra at its richest and most full-blooded. Alongside the burnished, glowing colours of the Haydn Variations were placed the autumnal glow of the Third Symphony and the Concerto for Violin and Cello, Brahms’ final orchestral work, with sibling soloists Christian and Tanja Tetzlaff.

With a last-minute change of conductor from the excitable Andris Nelsons to the more reserved Jac van Steen, one might have forgiven a not exactly revolutionary performance. Last night’s concert was meant to be the first half of Nelsons’ Brahms cycle with the Philharmonia in the Sheldonian Theatre, part of Music at Oxford’s series, but illness unfortunately prevented him from performing.

A very welcome and triumphant revival of Peter Grimes begins Opera North’s Festival of Britten season, soon to be followed by A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Death in Venice. The work has often been described as Britten’s greatest, the paeans of praise beginning soon after its first performance just after the Second World War, often involving the word “enigma”.

It’s rather unusual to find one Russian in a programme with three British composers, but Prom 16, with Jac van Steen and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, brought together two of this season’s themes. The first in the 2013 Proms’ Tchaikovsky symphony cycle (no. 4) was presented alongside British works including one by the composer Granville Bantock, who is featuring in a total of five Proms.

Wagnerians who are unfamiliar with the subtle humour of German humourist Loriot might sneer at the mere thought of paying to hear a version of the tetralogy that is cut by about 80% of the total score, but this was not the case with the regular Viennese Ring-goers who filled this performance. And judging from the applause, it was a worthwhile experience for them as well as for Wagner rookies.

A "riot of orchestral colour" was promised, but little of it was allowed to flourish.Elgar's Cockaigne Overture, written during the winter of 1900-01, is a portrait of a busy London, conjuring the hustle and bustle of everyday, metropolitan life.