Isouard’s Cendrillon @ St John’s, Smith Square, London

Many Rossini fans will claim that his decision to steer clear of magical elements in La Cenerentola, as were prevalent in Charles Perrault’s fairy-tale of...

Michel Legrand: 60 Years of Music & Movies @ Royal Festival Hall, London

If John Barry’s music represents the action hero in 1960s and 1970s cinema, the music of Michel Legrand calls to mind the quirky, the imported...

Prom 75: The Last Night of the Proms 2018 @ Royal Albert Hall, London

There is no such thing as a bad Last Night of the Proms as all elicit enjoyment, but some undoubtedly hit the mark more than...

Boesch / Martineau @ Wigmore Hall, London

Over at the Albert Hall, the jollity and exhibitionism of the Last Night of the Proms; here at the Wigmore, a display of subtlety and...

Prom 74: Theodora @ Royal Albert Hall, London

Theodora is unusual among Handel’s compositions in that it has created more of a splash in the modern day than it ever did when it...

Prom 73: Before the Ending of the Day @ Royal Albert Hall, London

Whatever its other acoustic challenges, the Albert Hall usually accommodates unaccompanied singing quite well, and so it was with the Tallis Scholars’ exploration of Compline...

Prom 72: Royal Scottish National Orchestra / Oundjian @ Royal Albert Hall, London

In the various documentaries on Britten’s War Requiem that have been produced over the years there are always interviews with those who attended the first...

Prom 70: Tango Prom @ Royal Albert Hall, London

Tuesday’s Prom was billed as ‘a celebration of the heady, sexually charged Latin American tango’. Sadly, all sexuality had been ripped out of the art-form,...

Proms at Cadogan Hall 6: Soloists of the Berliner Philharmoniker @ Cadogan Hall, London

Once in a while the programme of a concert matches perfectly the mood and the weather. These gentle, lucent summer’s-end days call for light airy...

Proms at Alexandra Palace: Trial by Jury @ Alexandra Palace Theatre, London

‘Location, location, location’ is as important a maxim for performance venues as for anything else. Both the Royal Albert Hall and Alexandra Palace were constructed...

Prom 64: London Philharmonic Orchestra / Orozco-Estrada @ Royal Albert Hall, London

Although Hans von Bülow was being derogatory when he described Verdi’s Messa da Requiem as an ‘opera in ecclesiastical garb’ (he later retracted the remark),...

Proms at Cadogan Hall 7: Bernstein on Broadway and Beyond @ Cadogan Hall, London

If, as is often said, Benjamin Zephaniah could make a telephone directory sound like poetry, then it should come as no surprise that Leonard Bernstein...

Prom 58: The Sound of an Orchestra @ Royal Albert Hall, London

In 1958, Leonard Bernstein began presenting the Young People’s Concerts hosted by the New York Philharmonic. His ability to engage, educate and entertain without patronising...

Prom 52: Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra / Gardner @ Royal Albert Hall, London

Edward Gardner is clearly ‘King of the Pause’. His ability (doubtless honed by his years as a conductor of opera) to understand the innate drama...

Proms at Cadogan Hall 6: BBC Singers / Oramo @ Cadogan Hall, London

Monday’s Cadogan Hall Prom saw the first pairing for an a cappella concert of the BBC Singers with the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s current Chief Conductor,...

Prom 46: National Youth Jazz Orchestra / Armstrong @ Royal Albert Hall, London

The influences of Stravinsky were unmistakable in the world première of Laura Jurd’s The Earth Keeps Spinning: shifting tonalities, angular, abruptly curtailed fragments of melody...

Prom 44: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra / Morlot @ Royal Albert Hall, London

Some performances are inspiring and uplifting, while others can be merely businesslike, and, sadly, Wednesday night’s all-French Prom contained more of the latter than the...

Prom 41: BBC Symphony Orchestra / Gardner @ Royal Albert Hall, London

A perfect storm of Proms themes and anniversaries this year has allowed the programming of several works by Lili Boulanger. And hurrah for that, as...

Prom 38: West Side Story @ Royal Albert Hall, London

John Wilson’s musical-theatre Proms are always much anticipated (and, in recent years, have been given matinee and evening billings); Saturday’s first Proms performance of the...

Prom 33: BBC Symphony Orchestra / Farnes @ Royal Albert Hall, London

Thea Musgrave’s Phoenix Rising swirls into life from the outset – it is almost as if the listener walks into a room where an argument...