Hansel and Gretel review – manic energy and festive roars of fury keep kids enrapt
Conductor Giedrė Šlekytė makes a promising UK debut with Humperdinck’s luxuriant score but there isn’t much space for adult enchantment
Classical music: Fiona Maddocks’s 10 best concerts and operas of 2024
A last-minute stand-in saves the day; an unusual artistic double act dazzles; plus, electrifying Strauss, Finnish firepower and high-flying Britten…
Stephen Lawrence obituary
Other lives: Cello teacher who was important in the musical life of Cumbria
The week in classical: La bohème; London Contemporary Music festival – review
Ukrainian soprano Olga Kulchynska is an unforgettable Mimì in Richard Jones’s ever sumptuous Puccini production. And mischief rules at this year’s LCMF
Sarah Leonard obituary
Soprano with a remarkable high register who made her debut at La Scala, Milan, and sang with the Michael Nyman Band
Monteverdi Choir/English Baroque Soloists/Rousset review – joyous and immaculate festive programme
Under the baton of Christophe Rousset, the Monteverdis sounded exquisite in a celebration of Advent that balanced reflection with exultation
The 10 best contemporary albums of 2024
Astrid Sonne’s sonic odyssey led her to Auto-Tune experiments, Caroline Shaw took Emily Dickinson into junkyard hip-hop and Nala Sinephro went space-age
Zakir Hussain obituary
Virtuoso tabla player whose work with a variety of musicians included composing for films
New heights, fond farewells and daring acrobatics – the year in classical music
It was a thrilling year with glittering new works, an electrifying Proms season, Puccini in a laundry and Britten on a trapeze
La Bohème review – action rather than angst in lively revival
Richard Jones’s 2017 staging returns to Covent Garden with a young and light-hearted group of bohemians. In the pit Speranza Scappucci keeps things moving musically
Christian Gerhaher/Gerold Huber review – Gerhaher is unmatched singing Schumann
This absorbing recital shone a light on some of the composer’s lesser known songs
LSO/Pappano review – postwar Vaughan Williams at his most ferocious and compelling
Antonio Pappano delivered a masterclass in dynamic control with VW’s final symphony, leaving the perennially popular Elgar cello concerto that followed feeling almost toothless
London Contemporary Music festival review – anarchic and provocative, sublime and ridiculous
Cutting-edge composers and sound artists converge for a festival packed with curious works, from scatological panto scores to futurist noise opera, on the theme of tricksters
Alan Titchmarsh, Benjamin Appl and a bevy of Bevans: the best classical Christmas albums of 2024
The gardener turns storyteller, the star baritone keeps it tasteful and family harmony abounds, while the nation’s favourite festive choir is everywhere…
From exquisite Elgar to razor-sharp Cage: our classical recordings of the year
A piano prodigy burst onto the scene, studio opera recordings were few and far between – and the year’s most rewarding discs were the ones that ventured beyond the mainstream