Paul Lewis/Hyeyoon Park, Benjamin Grosvenor, Wigmore Hall online/BBC Radio 3 review - tranquil Schubert, fiery Franck

★★★★ PAUL LEWIS/ HYEYOON PARK, BENJAMIN GROSVENOR, WIGMORE HALL/ BBC RADIO 3 Locked-down stars take to an empty Wigmore Hall with fervour and equanimity

Locked-down stars take to an empty Wigmore Hall with fervour and equanimity

The Wigmore Hall’s triumphant series of lockdown lunchtime concerts by the finest of local recitalists is not without an audience; it’s just that the performers can’t see them. Conversely, online viewers can watch the artists closely enough to see what fingering pianists choose for the awkward passages, and the sound quality is remarkably fine - though may also depend on your computer or smartphone (I heard Steven Isserlis’s recital the other day on my phone from the middle of Richmond Park).

Stephen Hough/Lucy Crowe, Anna Tilbrook, Wigmore Hall online/BBC Radio 3 review - the end of the beginning

HOUGH/CROWE, TILBROOK, WIGMORE HALL ONLINE/BBC RADIO 3 The end of the beginning

Comfort and joy as live performance returns to top chamber music venue - at a distance

After a devastating drought, even a light shower can feel like something of a miracle. Under normal circumstances, a 60 minute lunchtime piano recital from the Wigmore Hall would represent wholly unremarkable business as usual for BBC Radio 3.

Classical Music/Opera direct to home 11 - more phased returns to creative work

CLASSICAL MUSIC/OPERA DIRECT TO HOME 11 More phased returns to creative work

Sweden comes to musical life again, a small UK festival ponders and past glories shine

At last, it seems, one venerable British institution will be emulating what Scandinavian and Czech set-ups have been managing over the past month: live performances from an audience-less venue, though in sound only. In quickly reorganised scheduling along with BBC Radio 3, the Wigmore Hall features a host of its top regular artists in June lunchtime concerts.

Daniel Sepec, Tabea Zimmermann, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Wigmore Hall review - the viola is a star

★★★★★ SEPEC, ZIMMERMANN, QUEYRAS, WIGMORE HALL The viola is a star

Beethoven's story told through his string trios makes for a long but rewarding evening

Six weeks ago, the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation announced that it the winner of its prestigious and extremely valuable main annual prize for 2020 "to a composer, performer, or scholar who has made outstanding contributions to the world of music" will be the viola player Tabea Zimmermann. She commented to an interviewer that what mattered to her most was neither well-paid concert appearances nor playing in large halls, but rather to be involved in things that are interesting for what she called their "Inhalt".

Sean Shibe, Wigmore Hall review - mesmerising journey from light to dark

★★★★★ SEAN SHIBE, WIGMORE HALL Acoustic guitar magic, electric monsterpiece

Acoustic guitar magic against intense silence contrasts with electric monsterpiece

"All true spiritual art has always been RADICAL art": thus spake the oracular Georges Lentz, composer of the pitch-black odyssey for electric guitar that took everyone by surprise last night. In that vein, why not add that all the greatest performers always push the boundaries, and that 28-year-old Sean Shibe, though included by the sponsors of this concert among "emerging talent", is already in their select company.

Simon Trpčeski, Barbican review - a charismatic chameleon

★★★★ SIMON TRPČESKI, BARBICAN  From hushed pianistic magic to percussive terror

A Brahms labyrinth, glittering Liszt and Russians alternating melancholy with madness

When Macedonian pianist Simon Trpčeski first bounced on to the concert scene, he seemed part will-o-the-wisp, part jack-in-the-box, a real personality of coruscating brilliance.

Joanna MacGregor, Adrian Brendel, Gildas Quartet, Wigmore Hall review - gold and silver

★★★★ JOANNA MACGREGOR, ADRIAN BRENDEL, GILDAS QUARTET, WIGMORE HALL Generosity all round in this charity concert for the Royal Society of Musicians

Generosity all round in this charity concert for the Royal Society of Musicians

Startlingly high levels of expression and focused fire made this rich concert worthy of the dedicatee who radiated those qualities, Jacqueline du Pré.

Andsnes, Mahler Chamber Orchestra Soloists, Wigmore Hall review - conversations with Mozart

★★★★ ANDSNES, MAHLER CHAMBER ORCHESTRA SOLOISTS Conversations with Mozart

The Norwegian pianist and friends show us the Austrian master in sunlight and shadow

Leif Ove Andsnes’s long-term partnership with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra has already yielded rich fruit, and the Mozart quartets and trio he performed last night with members of the top-notch nomad band proved just as succulent. However, I would hardly have been alone in leaving the Wigmore Hall with my strongest impressions stirred by the single solo work that the versatile Norwegian master-pianist allowed himself.

Michael Collins, Michael McHale, London Winds, Wigmore Hall review - flying the flag for wind chamber music

Long-standing ensemble makes a persuasive case for music familiar and unfamiliar

In a week when my colleague Jessica Duchen was delighted by the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, last night’s concert, also at Wigmore Hall, by Michael Collins and London Winds showed that chamber music with winds need not be the poor relation of that with strings. Rather the concerts make a persuasive case that wind instruments can be as engaging, virtuosic and poetic, and the repertoire – if less voluminous – as varied and versatile.

Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, Wigmore Hall review - a joyous celebration

★★★★ KALEIDOSCOPE CHAMBER COLLECTIVE A sparky ensemble of starry young musicians

A sparky, shape-shifting ensemble of starry young musicians

Nobody could deny that this was a weekend when we needed cheering up. The place for that was the Wigmore Hall, which played host to a recently formed “shape-shifting” ensemble of superb young soloists. The Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective was launched in 2017 by the violinist Elena Urioste and pianist Tom Poster (incidentally, they got married last summer).