Performer: The Quay Brothers

Louis Andriessen’s new opera is a masterly expedition into the grand and grotesque mind of Athanasius Kircher, polymath and fantastist, but it is hampered by a clumsy libretto.

The Institut Français’ three day festival “It’s all about Piano!” kicked off cinematically at King’s Place, with Mikhail Rudy’s compact double bill of Metamorphosis and Pictures at an Exhibition.

Following Alina Ibragimova’s recent residency in the medieval Library of Chetham’s School during the Manchester International Festival, her programme of some of the most complex solo violin works has now transferred for a short spell at Wilton’s Music Hall as part of the Barbican’s summer Blaze festival.