Bollocks to Brexit,” sang mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly, wearing an EU beret and joined by other leading musicians, outside parliament on a wet December day just as news came through that the “meaningful” vote had been postponed. It proved an anthem of the year. As foreign orchestras and soloists triumphed here, and UK performers had success abroad, Brexit careened and wailed from the wings like the witches in Verdi’s Macbeth. “Imagine Womad or Glasto with no new acts, or the entire classical music industry bankrupted by visa costs as our young musicians have no chance of working abroad,” Connolly said. ”Let’s keep the doors open for them and remain leaders in our field.”

The quest for equality, ever a lurching process, continued. A spirited group founded Swap’ra, “supporting women and parents in opera”. Its aim is “to foster an environment in which a female CEO, music director, artistic director, conductor, composer or librettist is no longer noteworthy”. Hear, hear. Swap’ra launched with an upbeat gala at Opera Holland Park. In addition to its own illustrious summer season, OHP made an impact with a Hope for Grenfell memorial gala, one year on from the fire. Musicians, an elite lineup volunteering their services, are a close family on such occasions.

The Royal Opera opened 2018 away from home at Camden’s Roundhouse, with a powerful Return of Ulysses, and continued, round-wise, with a season that featured a thrilling revival of Wagner’s Ring. Celebrating 50 years of its royal charter, the Royal Opera House opened its revamped building to all, all day every day. Music director Antonio Pappano extended his contract, to cheers and the promise of a sabbatical, until at least 2023.

Other conductors announced their forthcoming departure, with two big losses for the UK: Vladimir Jurowski will leave the London Philharmonic in 2021 for Munich; Esa-Pekka Salonen leaves the Philharmonia for San Francisco. Vasily Petrenko, invaluable in transforming the RLPO in Liverpool, will take over at the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Can he revitalise it in the same way? The Scottish Chamber Orchestra said goodbye to Robin Ticciati, now at Glyndebourne and Berlin. The starry young Russian Maxim Emelyanychev arrives at SCO next season.

Still north of the border, the RSNO welcomed the popular Dane Thomas Søndergård. Rafael Payare will leave the Ulster Orchestra. Manchester’s BBC Philharmonic announced the appointment of Israeli Omer Meir Wellber, a Barenboim protege. Ben Glassberg takes over at Glyndebourne Tour, now 50 years old. Where are the women? You can bet they’ll start filling these posts in the next game of musical chairs. Alice Farnham, Jessica Cottis and Elim Chan among many in the ascendant.

English National Opera, in addition to some outstanding revivals (Satyagraha, Lucia di Lamermoor), made us rethink and explore La traviata, Salome and Britten’s War Requiem. They also scored with a chilling The Turn of the Screw in Regent’s Park. Scottish Opera excelled with a community-based Pagliacci in a big top. WNO had success with Elena Langer’s Rhondda Rips It Up! and Prokofiev’s epic War and Peace. Opera North’s Silent Night was one of many works this year commemorating Armistice. Others by Anna Meredith and James MacMillan stand out.

On the same theme, Mark-Anthony Turnage’s The Silver Tassie (1997) made an impressive comeback. Wigmore Hall adroitly moves forward while appearing to remain the same, this year introducing concert live streams. As the year closed, London contemporary music festival shook us out of usual concert-hall confines.

#MeToo claimed several high-profile scalps (too many to mention). Composer and genius inspiration to all musicians, Oliver Knussen, 66, died. So too did the revered Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballé, 85. The Hungarian composer György Kurtág, aged 92, wrote his first opera, Fin de partie. There’s time for us all.

The top 10 classical music performances of 2018

1. The Cumnock Tryst

Cumnock, Ayrshire
Scottish festival revitalising a local community with world-class performances.

2. Britten weekend: the String Quartets

Snape Maltings, Suffolk
Exceptional music-making led by the Doric Quartet; highly concentrated, unfussy, peerless.

3. War and Peace

Welsh National Opera, Cardiff
Prokofiev’s sprawling version of Tolstoy given clarity and grandeur.

4. War Requiem

RLPO, Liverpool Cathedral
Joint effort with Hanover’s NDR Radiophilharmonie and chorus, united by Britten’s music.

5. Lessons in Love and Violence

Royal Opera House
George Benjamin’s new opera: raw, difficult, lyrical and worth it.

6. Siegfried

Usher Hall, Edinburgh
Fabulous, tireless performance from soloists and the Hallé orchestra, conducted by Mark Elder.

7. Porgy and Bess

Coliseum
One wonderful soloist after another, and a terrific chorus for Gershwin’s opera.

8. Le Cid

Dorset Opera
Grand opera in deepest Dorset, a summer camp which results in excellence.

9. Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra/Karabits

Lighthouse, Poole
A blast of a season opener which gave new life to Mahler’s Symphony No 2 “Resurrection”.

10. Europe and the World

British Museum
The BM’s first music festival presented world-spanning programmes in an unusual context.

Turkey

Il barbiere di Siviglia

Edinburgh festival
Every joke replayed, again and again. Rossini is funny already.