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Sean Shibe: Vesper album review – ever-imaginative guitar virtuoso brings mind-expanding flights of fancy

This thoughtfully curated programme of work by three British composers explores the guitar’s expressive potential, and new arrangements of Harrison Birtwistle’s piano originals are a revelation

The Flying Dutchman review – delusion, torment and menace in detailed and finely sung Wagner

Jack Furness’s unconventional staging for Welsh National Opera sees the orchestra play up a storm under Tomáš Hanus in Wagner’s legend of the man condemned to sail the oceans for eternity

Olivia Rodrigo: Drop Dead review – a maximalist rush of infatuation that’s just a bauble short of festive

On this giddy first taste of the US pop star’s third album, she sets aside her rock bona fides to revel in the opulent flush of a crush-come-true. But why does it seem so doomed?

Lucy Liyou: Mr Cobra review – an arresting trip through the volatile emotions of a predatory relationship

The Korean American musician explores the unease and alarm of power imbalance using skittish melodies, nursery rhymes – and an unexpected Taylor Swift sample

Various artists: Asili ya Mama review – Tanzanian field recordings tell women’s stories with an energetic trill

These stories of family bonds capture traditional music that’s equal parts rhythmic, melodic and harmonic, and rarely heard outside Indigenous communities

Samuel Hasselhorn: Schubert Hoffnung review – timbral and emotional flexibility is in ample supply

The German baritone’s all-Schubert disc with pianist Ammiel Bushakevitz is full of communicative diction and poetic phrasing

Jessie Ware: Superbloom review – Table Manners host dishes up more disco – but where are the bangers?

The podcaster’s third sequin-festooned album in a row is her most retro, with its slightly cringe moments balanced by unerring quality control and opulent arrangements

Massive Attack: Boots on the Ground (ft Tom Waits) review – first single in a decade is a dark hymn for our times

Unsettling breathing, arrhythmic clatter, gloomy piano and military snares underpin a Beefheartian portrayal of a boorish warmonger on the band’s ominous return

Brodsky Quartet / William Barton review – two hemispheres meet in winning didgeridoo collaboration

An unlikely alliance cut a swathe through folk songs, Janáček and music from Australia and New Zealand in an eclectic and beautiful evening

Leeds Song festival review – from haiku to hauntings in evening that thinks outside the box

Roderick Williams could breathe life into a telephone directory, but found much better material in his recital with Iain Burnside. A later concert featured atmospheric soundscapes from local composer Martin Iddon

Karol G at Coachella review – electrifying set destined for festival’s hall of fame

With dazzling choreography and head-spinning set pieces, the Colombian star delivered a victorious statement of Latin pride

Dido and Aeneas review – young Welsh talent shines bright in Purcell

Created in just a week with a cast of rising stars and amateur singers, Mid Wales Opera’s production – and its heart-wrenching ending – is a remarkable achievement

Justin Bieber at Coachella review – pop’s troubled prince mostly hits right notes in low-energy set

For a reportedly record-breaking amount of money, the increasingly reclusive star proves his voice is still golden in a headliner performance light on enthusiasm

National Youth Orchestra/ Chauhan: Collide review – surging energy and remarkable intensity

Young performers brought tremendous quality and personal touches to a concert of works from Wagner to pop star Jacob Collier, under the focused guidance of new principal conductor Alpesh Chauhan

Salome review – righteous fury and dynamic clarity give Regents Opera its head

Directed with gangsterish overtones by Mark Ravenhill, the tempered musical weight of this lean production of the Strauss classic brings greater focus on the roles’ contrasting dramas

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  • Pelléas et Mélisande review – luminous semi-staging but Debussy’s elusive opera keeps its secrets
  • Olivia Rodrigo: You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love review – who’s she singing about? Who cares when the songs are this good
  • Pussy Riot: CYKA review – debut album from iconic Russian agitators is let down by blunt-force EDM
  • Brown Wimpenny: Long Live Brown Wimpenny review – Manchester folk collective get bawdy and shambolic
  • Sally Beamish: House of Wonder album review – a musical shapeshifter celebrates 70 years
  • Katia and Marielle Labèque: 55 album review – a handsome tribute to the sisters’ musical curiosity and brilliance
  • The Mahler Experiment review – physical drama comes at a musical cost in choreographed symphony
  • Lola Young review – buoyant, brilliant return from British pop’s great oversharer
  • Kelsey Lu: So Help Me God review – strange, graceful songs drifting from pop’s edgelands
  • Danish String Quartet review – captivating performance from a world-class group
  • Manchester Camerata review – mental torments build up to a royal meltdown
  • The Marriage of Figaro review – Danielle de Niese’s deft direction weds finery with fun
  • St Vincent review – majestic orchestral transformations of jagged art-pop
  • BBCNOW/Bancroft review – conductor takes final bow in imaginative programme of vivid colours and emotions
  • Krishna review – the mystery of John Tavener’s ‘mystic pantomime’ is why it has been staged
  • Taylor Swift: I Knew It, I Knew You review – giddy up! Song for Toy Story cowgirl Jessie is Swift’s best in years
  • Zoh Amba: Eyes Full review – raw, rugged country rock also has real tenderness
  • Gintė Preisaitė: Instruments of Forgetting and the Singing Bone review – atmospheric, unsettling ambience
  • Hourglass album review – Simone Dinnerstein gives Glass room to breathe
  • Lizzo: Bitch review – a spirited star who just can’t rediscover her groove
  • Beethoven: The Violin Sonatas Vol 1 album review – fresh-as-a-daisy performances from a duo with a gift for storytelling
  • Mike D review – ex-Beastie Boy’s first UK gig in two decades, in a Tyneside bingo hall, is uproarious fun
  • Saint Levant review – Palestinian pop star makes Australian debut to an ecstatic, sold-out crowd
  • Vespers review – haunting clash of cultures conjures Vivaldi’s Venice
  • Jack White review – former White Stripe’s art is like a 12-year-old visiting Tate Modern for the first time
  • Lise Davidsen and James Baillieu review – superstar soprano unleashes her inner Valkyrie
  • Orlando review – a confident romp through Handel’s flimsily plotted opera
  • Take That review – stadium redux of Circus tour has maximal razzle-dazzle
  • Hampson and Sidorova review – style over substance with a whiff of the cruise ship
  • Matías Aguayo: Anenoa review – the funkiest, freest singer in the business hits the dancefloor

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