A top cast and young local chorus share the honours in Netia Jones’s stylish new Britten staging; Finnish live-wire Pekka Kuusisto and friends conjure Shostakovich in the dark. Plus, Bruckner’s 6th for 10 players…

Record viewing and listening figures, plus keyboard wizardry from Paul Lewis, Benjamin Grosvenor and Stephen Hough, kicked off another year at the Proms. Elsewhere, Strauss’s Cretan romcom laid bare

Natalya Romaniw’s Ariadne shines in an unfussy production that is, at its best, breathtakingly effective and beautiful

Garsington’s refugee community opera bowls everyone over. At the Proms, uprooted Ukrainian musicians play as one, and Aurora Orchestra go to the brink

Performed by amateurs and professionals, Dalia – the tender story of a displaced girl who finds acceptance through cricket – is a rebuke to the UK’s increasingly cruel immigration policy

Cardi B pushes into Beyoncé’s turf and Sleaford Mods tot up the cost of Covid, while UK orchestras head back to the concert hall – our critics look ahead to big music moments

A great conductor took his leave at the Proms, Britten’s music triumphed on and off stage, and Rattle continued to take the LSO to new heights

The fear is palpable in Regent’s Park’s magical, pared down Hansel and Gretel, while an Offenbach rarity has its moment

Bryn Terfel is a magnificent Falstaff in a fine revival at Covent Garden. Elsewhere, two opera world premieres