A brilliantly-programmed birthday homage to Kurtag from Tamara Stefanovich: theguardian.com/music/2026/f... review @theguardian.com

It's Brecht-lite from ENO's new The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (but a terrific Widow Begbick from Rosie Aldridge) www.opera-now.com/content/revi...

Phyllida Lloyd's Grimes is still serving the chills for Opera North, with an impressive central turn from John Findon: criticscircle.org.uk/a-classic-re... review @ccmusicuk.bsky.social

Incisive clarity from Elim Chan, and a meaty new oboe concerto from Colin Matthews for the LSO: www.theguardian.com/music/2026/f...

Some classy singing and a staging with lots to say (under the clutter) but this revival didn't really gel for me: www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/cosi... @thestage.co.uk

After an impressive jump-in in 2017, Robert Treviño finally returns for a scheduled visit to the LSO: www.theguardian.com/music/2026/j...

The new issue of Gramophone has arrived, in which @alexandracoghlan.bsky.social and I reassess the Giulini Don Giovanni:

Lovely arc of a programme from Riot Ensemble: joyous sonic assault from Anna Meredith, maximalist madness from Alex Paxton, and a drifting cool-down from Eden Lonsdale: www.theguardian.com/music/2026/j...

We talk more about the murders than the music, but Gesualdo shocks on pure aesthetics in the Gesualdo Six's effective new staging. Plus Rattle's Makropulos Affair: www.thetablet.co.uk/arts/a-sound...

My lovely friend and very talented sound-designer and composer Max Pappenheim has created the first of a new series of podcast ghost stories - beautifully produced, scored and v atmospheric. E Nesbit's deliciously creepy The Mass for the Dead kicks it off: open.spotify.com/episode/2jWa...

Gosh Peter Moore is good... A new trombone concerto and a sunny Mahler 1 from Yamada & the CBSO: www.theguardian.com/music/2026/j...

First review of the year from me: a bracing start to the season from the National Youth Orchestra: www.theguardian.com/music/2026/j...

Michael Church, @jessicaduchen.bsky.social and I all chose our Top 10 classical events of 2025: inews.co.uk/culture/arts...

The highlights of classical music in 2025 from @theartsdesk.bsky.social team of critics:

The Tablet asked its critics to talk about the art that means Christmas to us. Here’s me on Finzi, Lucy M Boston and Alison Uttley:

Last review of the year from me. A seriously lush launch-programme for a seriously starry new chamber music festival. Jansen, Sitkovetsky, Quatuor Ebene, Soltani, Grosz, Ridout and more: www.theguardian.com/music/2025/d...

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for Barbara Hannigan and Bertrand Chamayou (The Guardian) On Saturday evening, soprano Barbara Hannigan performed works by John Zorn, Messiaen and Skryabin with pianist Bertrand Chamayou in a concert described as 'lyrical, primal, ravishingly beautiful' by Alexandra Coghlan for The Guardian 💫

Who else could sell out John Zorn and Messiaen on a Saturday night? Mesmerising ***** concert from Barbara Hannigan and Bertrand Chamayou theguardian.com/music/2025/d... @theguardian.com

My top picks for UK classical & opera in December (festive and non) for the I Paper: inews.co.uk/culture/arts...

The I Paper asked me to get opinion-y to mark the anniversary of Les Mis: inews.co.uk/culture/arts...

Some thoughts on Katie Mitchell's operatic farewell - the Royal Opera's Makropulos Case: www.oper-magazin.de/kritiken/auf...

Any Glyndebourne Members at the Open Day tomorrow (8 Nov) do consider coming along to my lecture on The Birth of Opera. There will be naughty aristocrats, musicological scandals, bags of Monteverdi, and a little help from my friends Sarah Lenton and Martyn Bennett

When I think about what contemporary opera can and should be - and whether "contemporary popular opera" could ever be a thing, I always think of Dead Man Walking: inews.co.uk/culture/arts...

How do you present Bach’s cantatas in a way that honours their original Lutheran context without making a contemporary audience sit through an hour-long sermon in a cold church? The OAE's Bach, The Universe & Everything is back: www.thetablet.co.uk/arts/celesti...

What does English National Opera's Albert Herring tell us about the company's future, its challenges and ambitions? Some thoughts on this cracking show for the I Paper: inews.co.uk/culture/arts...

I too have read this book for review. V interesting to see @alexandracoghlan.bsky.social’s take on it - lots we agree on. My review out on @theartsdesk.bsky.social shortly

Robin Holloway's Music's Odyssey is certainly an epic. I took the journey and lived to tell the tale @spectator www.spectator.co.uk/article/robi...

'Much more fun than a Classical biopera might sound' ★★★★ GIUSTINO #LinburyTheatre @royaloperahouse.bsky.social - Gods, mortals and monsters do battle in #Handel's charming drama - @alexandracoghlan.bsky.social enjoys a stylish account of a slight opera theartsdesk.com/opera/giusti...

Tenderness and intimacy from @etopera.bsky.social new Rape of Lucretia: www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/the-...

"A fascinating experiment" - review of Bushra El-Turk's Oum: A Son's Quest for his Mother @thestage.co.uk www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/oum-...

Ahead of the Barbican's Arvo Part at 90 exhibition, I explored the blanched sonic world of Estonia's greatest living composer: www.thetablet.co.uk/arts/arvo-pa...

Is it time to stop worrying and learn to love Verdi's operatic bomb? I enjoyed a third visit to Stefan Herheim's Vepres Siciliennes @royaloperahouse.bsky.social gramophone.co.uk/opera-now/re...

It was a gift to have a reason to spend far too much time listening to the many - and very varied - recordings of Jean Richafort's ravishing Requiem for Gramophone magazine - try this and marvel: open.spotify.com/track/2KTkXA... www.gramophone.co.uk/features/art...

The Royal Opera's new Tosca delivers just enough shock without scaring the horses: inews.co.uk/culture/arts...

Is it a musical or an opera? Grimeborn's Sense & Sensibility: The Musical should pick a lane: inews.co.uk/culture/arts...

An opera company makes its London debut: review of Wild Arts' sober Eugene Onegin & a giddy Elisir d'amore at Opera Holland Park: gramophone.co.uk/opera-now/re...

Loved the music, hated the hall - pace purists, but it's time for some inauthentic solutions to early music at the Proms...

This new Hyperion album contains a piece by someone new to me, a man with the BEST FRENCH COMPOSER NAME EVER. Does anyone know anything about Didier-Gaston de l'Aubergine? #classicalmusic #cello #frenchcomposers

Good to be going head to head with @larkingrumple.bsky.social again in Gramophone - this time about a classic recording of Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmelites:

**** Some seriously classy playing from Kantorow and a Scottish Chamber Orchestra performing like a crack baroque band for Emelyanychev: BBC Proms review @theipaper.com inews.co.uk/culture/arts...

Very much enjoyed my first trip to West Green Opera www.gramophone.co.uk/opera-now/re...

First visit to @westgreenopera_ last night - what a magical garden and place. Bonus points for three-man duck security team shaking down picnickers for crumbs…

Plenty of laughs and some cracking orchestral playing in this rewrite of Mozart’s The Impresario at Buxton Festival. Debut review from me @TheStage www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/the-...

My top picks from a fab BBC Proms 2026 season for @thetablet.bsky.social www.thetablet.co.uk/arts/the-pro...

My season guide to the Proms for @thetablet.bsky.social t www.thetablet.co.uk/arts/the-pro...

Longborough beyond Wagner: the festival’s first Pelléas is rich and thoughtful: www.gramophone.co.uk/opera-now/re...

A monumental achievement from British Youth Opera (and can someone please hire Mark Le Brocq to sing Grimes again please?). Reviewed Peter Grimes for @ccmusicuk.bsky.social : criticscircle.org.uk/a-rich-haul-...

Some thrilling singing helps Oliver Mears' Semele come crackling to life at the Royal Opera: oper-magazin.de/kritiken/auf... review auf deutsch in @opermagazin.bsky.social

Orchestral partnerships are the engine of summer opera companies. Thrilling things happening @GarsingtonOpera in large part thanks to @philharmonialondon.bsky.social & @englishconcert.bsky.social thetablet.co.uk/authors/alex... reviews of Rodelinda & Elisir d'amore @The_Tablet