Instrument: Cello

Kahchun Wong opens The Hallé season with an unexpected, but memorable debut by new Principal Cello, Rachel Helleur-Simcock. 

Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking represents Freeze Frame Opera's best production to date, with a powerhouse performance by founder soprano Hattie Marshall. 

The Giocoso’s Enescu and Il Giardino Armonico’s Beethoven bookend an exhilarating day of rarities and classics.

Bucharest’s temples of culture present rites of closure by Mozart, Kurtág and Bruckner… and a fleeting glimpse of Nirvana.

Alain Altinoglu and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra leave a lot to the imagination in a fiery treatment of two signature Dvořák works.

Born to a Basque mother just ten miles from the Spanish border, Ravel excelled at authentic Spanish flavours as heard in this splendid festival concert by the Orchestre National de France.

Don Quixote provides the inspiration for songs by Ravel and Ibert, the high point of a bitty programme in contrast to an early evening recital which followed the perfect trajectory.