Performer: Simon Halsey

In expert hands, a terrifying 12-tone opera and a heroic piano concerto rattle the walls in Prague’s Rudolfinum.

John Wilson brings his Sinfonia of London to the BBC Proms to crown the Ravel 150 celebrations with a glowing performance of his hedonistic symphonie chorégraphique.

Marking their 20th anniversary with a celebratory tour, Les Siècles perform French classics at the Barbican under their twinkle-toed founder, François-Xavier Roth. 

Contemplation and reflection should ideally form a counterpoint to jollity and merry-making in the festive season: an object-lesson from Sir Simon Rattle and his supporting forces.

Sir Antonio Pappano and the LSO offer a riveting account of Il prigioniero, an idiosyncratic 20th-century opera. 

There could be no more appropriate choice than the Glagolitic Mass, with its text of Old Church Slavonic, for a concert which Bychkov had dedicated to the people of Ukraine.

In conversation with acclaimed Choral Director Simon Halsey, on choral traditions and on how important it is to be part of a large musical family.