Few art forms are as burdened by canons as classical music and opera. That, perhaps, is why I love to be surprise

Julia Wolfe’s UnEarth will be on at the Barbican in January - Barbican As the winter evenings draw in, music becomes a solace as well as a pleasure. So far this year we’ve enjoyed a Proms season for the ages as well as musical tributes to those ...

Looking back on 2025 is like trying to recount a dream — a mix of dagger-sharp details and foggy stretches that fall apart when you try to apprehend them. I seem to remember some absurd plot twists and nightmarish swerves, but there were also blissful stretches filled with sounds I’ve never heard before. Those parts were nice.

As usual, my retrospective list of the “best” classical and opera offerings of the year has a lot more to do with lasting impressions than definitive rankings. This was a year of big tours and bold experiments, ambitious premieres and painful losses ...

To say we were spoilt for choice in choosing 10 classical recordings from 2025 for your Christmas stocking would be putting it mildly. Despite the endlessly repeated prophecies of the “death of classical recording” the industry gives the impression of ...

The best thing about 2023, ’round these parts? It got me excited for 2024, and 2033. The prognosis for the performing arts at large, still limping after the pandemic, is anything but rosy. But then, one hears young musicians, with their lives ahead of ...

Since the pandemic began, I've not been going to concerts — as in none since March 2020 — until this year. So far, I've dodged the COVID bullet (yes, an outlier), though I'm still squeamish about large crowds. Still, this year I did jump back in the ...