The main attraction was the German première of Mr Salonen’s Sinfonia concertante for organ and orchestra, which was completed and given its first performance (in Katowice) only six days ago.With Olivier Latry on the Karl Schuke organ of the Philharmonie and spirited direction from the composer himself, the new work provided a compelling centrepiece to an evening that never lacked excitement.

'Il Giustino' was written first and foremost a vocal showcase, and the staging acknowledged this by turning the area around the orchestra pit into a platform, allowing the singers to deliver their arias directly to the audience without an excess of projection that might have ruined the delicate balance between voice and instrumental ensemble

The Gewandhausorchester Leipzig presented a programme of stark contrasts in which the quiet anguish of Shostakovich’s 'Chamber Symphony' and the cataclysmic force of Sofia Gubaidulina’s 'Der Zorn Gottes' were held in fine balance by unshakable optimism of Beethoven’s 'Seventh Symphony'

It was a good weekend for Mahler fans in Berlin.Only two nights after the Berlin Philharmonic kicked off their season with a performance of the Seventh, the 2022 edition of Musikfest Berlin got underway with the Sixth, performed by Amsterdam’s Concertgebouworkest under the direction of their future chief conductor Klaus Mäkelä

La música de Coleman traduce la alegría del nacimiento y la fuerza de la tradición con un lenguaje asequible: no en vano esta mujer promueve a los compositores “del lado no europeo de la música contemporánea”.

The new production of 'Falstaff' was a success on nearly all fronts.Sir David McVicar’s energetic, lightly ribald staging made easy work of the densely-plotted action while the vigorous musical direction of Paul Daniel and a strong ensemble led by the charismatic Falstaff of Quinn Kelsey ensured that the intricacies of the score emerged with absolute clarity.

The Meistersinger's staging of Jossi Wieler, Anna Viebrock and Sergio Morabito had numerous great ideas and a few terrible ones;it conjured a convincing world and populated it with well-realised characters, then allowed entire scenes to fall flat.

Between the extraordinary refinement of the playing and the consistently thrilling direction of Andris Nelsons, the evening was a casually flawless illustration of how the best concerts invariably arise from the simple pairing of great pieces with great musicians