Performer: Thomas E. Bauer

The vocal items in this programme were the most successful, driven as they were by Bauer's searing interpretations.

Overall a good performance of Handel's oratorio Esther at the Halle Festival, but some problems with the soloists unfortunately let it down.

Five star reviews are flowing Arcangelo’s way. It’s easy to see why. Five years after it was founded by Jonathan Cohen, the quality of this zestful ensemble just keeps soaring. 

Tonight's setting of Die Soldaten in a WWI stable is so sordid you can almost feel the rats gnawing. Alvis Hermanis was right to warn in a newspaper interview that we would leave the theatre feeling shocked.

The Rias-Kammerchor and the Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin perform pieces by J.S. Bach, Handel and C.P.E. Bach.

Presenting Das Rheingold and Die Walküre in a single evening is audacious enough. To put on a Ring cycle in a week-end, you have to follow this by doing the same with Siegfried and Götterdämmerung, which requires something even more radical. Opéra de Dijon’s director Laurent Joyeux and dramaturg Stephen Sazio set themselves the task of cutting eight hours of music down to five.