Ivan Hewett

In this regularly updated guide, our critic recommends the best classical and opera releases of the year – and suggests a few to avoid

The ‘Scottish Tenor’ proved he can still blend the middle- and high-brow with this recital of Britten, Shakespeare and Sondheim songs

Recorded at New York’s Carnegie Hall in 1974, this concert finds the great bassist and composer in joyous, daring form

David Pountney’s inventive production puts a Stalinist spin on Rimsy-Korsakov’s first opera

To widen the appeal of the arts is always sensible – but cold statistics and essentialist categories are patronising, unhelpful tools

This performance of Beethoven’s opera, in the concert version, was an ardent, energised evening of light and shade, despair and joy

Richard Strauss’s complex opera was brought to sumptuous life in this bold production, dominated by a magnificent Derrick Ballard

Operatic composition’s leading lady on revitalising Virgil, mixing classical and pop, and refusing to harbour identity-based ‘grievances’

From cat pianists to dancing bears, our fascination with animal musicality is ancient. But do beasts know their Beethoven from their Bach?

Symphony Hall in Birmingham resounded to Saint-Saëns and Debussy – it wasn’t flawless, but it was manna from Heaven either way

Our critics pick the best of this summer’s musical offerings, from Opera North’s Fidelio to Liam Gallagher at Reading and Leeds Festival

This new production of Rossini’s zany classic makes hay with the obviousness of the caricatures on which it’s built

The ‘immersive virtual world’ on offer in the Linbury Theatre promises Shakespearean magic, but can’t match the poetry of the real world

Novelist and musician Amit Chaudhuri leads us towards a different way of hearing and playing

This year’s Festival ran online, thanks to the musicians who performed streamed sets for free. It wasn’t perfect, but it had plenty of soul

The 17-year-old percussionist Fang Zhang has a bright future. But his talent was forged in gruelling training that lasted until 4am

Well-known arias are transformed in the Royal Opera House’s digital short film series, 8bit, with the best touching both mind and heart

His revolutionary sound defined the Renaissance era. So how did we forget this Copernicus of music?

A charming book reconstructs the European wanderings over three centuries, from Cremona to the Black Sea, of a battered, beautiful violin

From Bach’s Passions to Poulenc’s Motets, Holy Week has inspired more great music than any other subject