MacMillan’s Christmas Oratorio review – a magical choral performance

Roderick Williams and Rhian Lois were the perfectly matched vocal soloists as James MacMillan conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in a ferociously committed performance of his own Christmas story

Beare’s Chamber Music festival review: string supergroup dazzle with Schubert, Strauss and Schoenberg

The likes of Janine Jansen, Timothy Ridout and Kian Soltani were part of a starry lineup giving this London audience a taste of heaven on earth

Turandot review – Anna Netrebko brings greatness to Royal Opera’s classic staging

Andrei Serban’s 40-year-old production is confidently revived by Jack Furness, while the vocal richness of the Russian soprano as its eponymous heroine takes things to another level

A Ceremony of Carols review – joy and Alleluias for Cardiff Polyphonic Choir

A radiant Christmas celebration brought an emphatic account of Britten’s song cycle, together with past commissions by Welsh composers and newer works that perfectly complemented each other

Pass the Spoon review – David Shrigley serves up a macabre kitchen opera

A TV cookery star becomes the main course, while doomed vegetables and a depressive egg create havoc, in this darkly comic show by the Scottish artist and composer David Fennessy at Opera North

LSO/Pappano review – Musgrave’s Phoenix rises and Vaughan Williams’ London stirs the soul

An all British programme featured music by Thea Musgrave, Vaughan Williams and William Walton, with Antoine Tamestit an expressive and sensitive soloist in the latter’s Viola concerto

Pavel Kolesnikov review – he is a virtuosic sculptor in sound

A beautifully controlled programme of Chopin, Rameau, and the latter’s long-forgotten contemporary Duphly, showcased the pianist’s unerring sense of line

Ariodante review – dysfunctional royals and designer dresses in Handel with a disjunct

There’s a top-notch cast and detailed work from all involved in Jetske Mijnssen’s production that reframes Handel’s opera as a modern family psychodrama.

Hannigan/ Chamayou review – strange and beautiful musical magic

Barbara Hannigan and Bertrand Chamayou were exhilarating in John Zorn’s monumental Jumalattaret; a beautifully intimate performance of Messiaen’s Chants de Terre et de Ciel completed the evening

Last Days review – Leith’s opera imagining the final moments of Kurt Cobain is truly disturbing

An alter ego of the Nirvana frontman is hounded by a stream of fans, friends, Jehovah’s Witnesses, deliveries and even a private investigator

La Rondine review – new version of Puccini’s opera makes aftertaste bitter rather than sweet

Carlo Rizzi and the BBC Symphony Orchestra sparkled as Ermonela Jaho as Magda and Iván Ayón-Rivas as Ruggero delivered the composer’s long-lost preferred version

HMS Pinafore review – carry on up the poop deck in ENO’s daffy Gilbert and Sullivan staging

Packed full of physical comedy and double-entendres, Cal McCrystal’s production is brought to vibrant life by a strong cast, with Mel Giedroyc an engagingly anarchic presence

Strauss: An Alpine Symphony; Four Songs Op 27 album review – nothing is overblown or indulgent

Conductor Nicholas Collon keeps the sound clean and the pace dynamic in a bracing recording, while, in the Four Songs op 27, Louise Alder is unfailingly communicative

Nash Ensemble: Ravel album review – catches the music’s dazzling light and intriguing shade

The chamber group’s all-Ravel CD is an impeccable farewell to its much-missed founder

Philharmonia/ Rouvali review – Fazil Say’s concerto sounds an urgent wakeup call

The UK premiere of the Turkish composer’s piano concerto Mother Earth was balanced with theatrical Sibelius and a sure-footed reading of Dvorak’s upbeat Eighth Symphony