The Dancing Master review – Arnold’s ‘bawdy’ period piece no longer shocks or awes
A resourceful staging and spirited cast can’t prevent Arnold’s 1952 opera – once declared too bawdy for broadcast – from dragging its feet
Dancing With Apollo review – beauty and insights as festival turns to classical mythology
Spitalfields Music festival’s combination of chamber music, dance and lecture showcased the lyricism of violinist Sara Trickey’s playing and made for a thought-provoking concert
A Little Night Music review – Opera North brings musical gains but dramatic loss
The new staging of Sondheim’s musical is a delicious and sweet treat, but with the songs rendered so beautifully, something of the work’s psychological edge is lost
Allan Clayton; Juliet Fraser review – Britten proves indigestible, but Fraser’s Feldman is a tour de force
Britten’s five Canticles were a mixed blessing, but To and Fro in Shadow’s pairing of Samuel Beckett and Morton Feldman was exquisite
The week in classical: In the Market for Love; Oxford lieder festival; Wexford Festival Opera – review
A silly but delightful staging of Mesdames de la Halle is an Offen-ready treat, while haunting lieder and free transportation to Ireland’s National Opera House are not to be missed
Precipice review – an epic country stroll towards hope and renewal
Sinéad O’Neill’s promenade work weaved deftly around verdant grounds to encounter operatic scenes, circus acrobatics and a past pandemic reckoned with through poignant dance
Breaking Glass review – a suite of female composers smashing the mould for Australian arts
A showcase of four new operatic acts by women takes to the virtual stage, inspired by everything from Sylvia Plath to the eradication of wildlife
Michael Ball and Alfie Boe review – dulcet bromance hits the high notes
Classic FM’s answer to Ant and Dec take their grandiose revue on a tour of the UK’s arenas, belting out broadway showstoppers and stirring pop ballads
Woodford folk festival review – a much-needed moment of positivity and reprieve
Woodford, QueenslandDespite dodging the brunt of the extreme weather, attendees at the 34th annual folk festival had the future on their minds
Reich/Richter review – two artists with the power to disrupt time and space
An ever-shifting new composition by Steve Reich is set to a Rorschach-like new film by Gerhard Richter, with wonderfully disorientating, hypnotic results
Alison Balsom in Gabriel review – trumpets get lost in translation
As actor, singer, compere and musician, Balsom drives this reimagining of Samuel Adamson’s celebration of Purcell, but the venue impedes its drama
Zauberland review – after horrors, a feeling of ‘so what’ remains
Crimp, Foccroulle, Mitchell and Schumann combine their considerable forces to tell a shocking story, inspired by the Syrian conflict, that fails to have the impact it should
Oscar and Lucinda review – Peter Carey’s novel refracted into operatic colour
Carriageworks, SydneySydney Chamber Opera sees reckless beauty in the Booker prize-winning tale of a wager between an unlikely couple
Lea Salonga review – musicals star evokes whole new world of stories
The voice of Miss Saigon and Princess Jasmine controls the audience as finely as the vibrato in her expressive vocals
The week in classical: Tao of Glass review – an extraordinary exploration of creativity
Royal Exchange, ManchesterPhilip Glass makes a surprise appearance at Phelim McDermott’s astonishing tribute show