Balance and depth take center stage as the Festival of New Trumpet Music begins in Brooklyn

Seven Storey Mountain, the title of Trappist monk Thomas Merton’s autobiography, is a reference to the mountain of purgatory in Dante’s Inferno. It is also, fittingly, the title of trumpeter Nate Wooley’s song cycle – meant to represent “a certain abandon found in religious practice within the confines of a composed work for instrumentalists”.

Now they know how many cacti it takes to fill the Albert Hall. Last night’s marathon John Cage Prom finished up, over three hours after it had started, with a wonderfully cactus-heavy performance of Branches (1976).

Kahchun Wong conducts The Hallé in Mahler's epic Sixth Symphony, although directorial idiosyncrasies sometimes get in the way of the music. 

The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under Václav Luks are joined by their own choir and strong soloists for a fresh and colourful performance of Haydn's Die Schöpfung.

A first half of vocalises gives way to all Strauss after the interval as the Lithuanian superstar soprano helps Wigmore Hall celebrate its 125th anniversary.