Bang on a plank: Mantra Percussion brings Michael Gordon's Timber to BAM

This past December at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, six percussionists drummed on wooden planks for an hour in one of the most powerful performances of 2012. The six musicians of Mantra Percussion (Joe Bergen, Al Cerulo, Chris Graham, Michael McCurdy, Jude Traxler, and Nick Woodbury) were performing the New York première of Michael Gordon’s Timber, an immersive and meditative work.

Sakari Oramo and Annsi Karttunen bring Northern lights and folklore to the Philharmonie, closing on a touch of Czech optimism with Dvořák’s Eighth Symphony.

A compelling concert at Liverpool’s Tung Auditorium offers a striking Josephine Stephenson’s UK premiere, dazzling John Adams and Steve Reich’s mesmerising Reich/Richter.

As part of the Southbank Centre's Multitudes festival, Unnatural Harmony: Sounds of Lee Alexander McQueen offers a multimedia tribute to the life and creative vision of the iconic British fashion designer. 

In an all-Russian programme in Liverpool, Alim Beisembayev gives a breathtaking performance of Prokofiev's fiendishly difficult Second Piano Concerto.

Andrey Boreyko makes an impressive debut with the Boston Symphony, where Evgeny Kissin performs in not one, but two piano concertos.