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Ukrainian soprano Olga Kulchynska is an unforgettable Mimì in Richard Jones's ever sumptuous Puccini production. And mischief rules at this year's LCMF ...

Welsh National Opera hit the heights with Britten - only to be brought low by funding cuts, Barenboim returned to the Proms and Edinburgh's Usher Hall radiated with sheer ferocious energy in a spectacular year of live music ...

Under the baton of Christophe Rousset, the Monteverdis sounded exquisite in a celebration of Advent that balanced reflection with exultation ...

It was a thrilling year with glittering new works, an electrifying Proms season, Puccini in a laundry and Britten on a trapeze ...

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 ...

This absorbing recital shone a light on some of the composer's lesser known songs ...

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 ...

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 ...

The gardener turns storyteller, the star baritone keeps it tasteful and family harmony abounds, while the nation's favourite festive choir is everywhere ...

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 ...