Dongyang Gozupa, Purcell Room review - K-Music’s power trio

★★★★ DONGYANG GOZUPA, PURCELL ROOM The South Korean band storm and soar

The South Korean band storm and soar through an otherwordly set

A minute before coming on stage, the audience is asked to observe a minute’s silence for the victims of the Halloween tragedy in the central Itaewon district of the South Korean capital of Seoul.

Ax, LPO, Canellakis, RFH review - from the soil to the stars

★★★★ AX, LPO, CANELLAKIS, RFH From the soil to the stars, pianistic warmth and wisdom

Pianistic warmth and wisdom anchors a journey from earth to the heavens

Good conductors should surely be seen as well as heard. Positioned behind Emanuel Ax’s piano in Brahms’s first piano concerto, with the two flanks of the London Philharmonic’s strings spread wide on either side across the stage, Karin Canellakis sometimes looked from the stalls of the Royal Festival Hall as if she were directing the chamber ensemble of horns and woodwind just in front of her.

'Serving the community means representing the narratives of our time': Elena Dubinets on her responsibilities as the LPO's Artistic Director

ELENA DUBINETS OF THE LPO 'Serving the community means representing narratives of our time'

Music as home, from Rachmaninov to Iyer, in the London Philharmonic's new season

Just as I was moving from the US to the UK to begin working as the Artistic Director of the London Philharmonic Orchestra last summer, the orchestra was emerging from the COVID-19 period and our audiences began coming back. During the course of the first few concerts, I realised over and over again that the LPO’s strategy should be based on creativity, flexibility and access – and on tying our work to the needs of the community.

Purcell's Playhouse, Bevan, Barokksolistene, Eike, Purcell Room review - kaleidoscopic delights

★★★★ PURCELL'S PLAYHOUSE, BEVAN, BAROKKSOLISTENE, EIKE, PURCELL ROOM Kaleidoscopic delights

Vivacious British soprano shares the communicative spirit of her Norwegian colleagues

“What about the communication with the audience?” asked violinist and impresario Bjarte Eike in his First Person piece for theartsdesk. “How can a 'normal' concert be turned into a special event?” Explaining how is one thing – but doing it to dazzle our senses is what counts. Though the Alehouse Session which followed out in the foyer was brilliant business more or less as usual, “Purcell’s Playhouse” took us further on the road of making the old absolutely new.

Gurrelieder, LPO, Gardner, RFH review - everything in place, but still something’s missing

★★★ GURRELIEDER, LPO, GARDNER, RFH Everything in place, but still something’s missing

Schoenberg's epic of love, death, afterlife and earthly regeneration sold a bit short

Schoenberg’s “Song of the Wood Dove” takes up a mere 11 of the 100 minutes of his epic Gurrelieder, though it’s a crucial narrative of how King Waldemar of Gurre’s beloved Tove was murdered by his jealous queen. Last night, as in Simon Rattle’s 2017 Proms performance, stunning mezzo Karen Cargill came on stage, immediately in character, and with no reference to the score on the stand in front of her, showed everyone else how to do it.

First Person: violinist and music director Bjarte Eike on bringing the Playhouse to his 'Alehouse Sessions'

BJARTE EIKE The violinist and music director on bringing the Playhouse to his 'Alehouse Sessions'

Barokksolistene's freewheeling spirit of delight returns to the Southbank tomorrow

History first. The 17th century London of Oliver Cromwell and its puritanical quest to curb all creativity – banning music, closing down theatres, restricting alcohol and all the rest – provided an incredible backdrop for Barokksolistene’s project The Alehouse Sessions. How music survived with its tunes and tales, in song and dance, has for me been a true revelation.

First Person: Angela Slater on reaping the rewards of the LPO's Young Composers programme

FIRST PERSON: ANGELA SLATER on the rewards of the LPO's Young Composers programme

Working with the best musicians towards one of a number of premieres on Thursday

When I applied to the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Young Composers programme and found out that I had been accepted, I was expecting to be working on a new orchestral work as in previous years. However, this year, we were invited to explore the concerto form instead.

First person: Ukrainian violinist Valeriy Sokolov on performing while his homeland is destroyed

His home city of Kharkiv in ruins, a great musician plays on

A fortnight ago I performed Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto with the Aurora Orchestra, joining them and their Principal Conductor Nicholas Collon in Cologne. Tonight we shall present the same programme at the Royal Festival Hall. These are my first appearances with Aurora and as a Ukrainian, I feel so grateful that even during a terrible time like this, I can continue making music. The situation in my homeland feels so overwhelming that getting on with music right now is the best thing to do for now, at least mentally.

Carmen, Queen Elizabeth Hall review - a flawed but fascinating retread

★★★ CARMEN, QEH Osipova mesmerises in a new contemporary dance chamber-version

Osipova mesmerises in a new contemporary dance chamber-version that doesn't quite hit its mark

When Natalia Osipova comes a-calling, a choreographer doesn’t say no. The Bolshoi-trained ballerina, having commandeered all the prime roles in her nine years at the Royal Ballet, is always looking to conquer new territory. In a string of self-curated solo shows she has made forays into contemporary dance as well as staking out her supremacy as a dance-actress, often commissioning new work.

Hodges, LPO, Gardner, RFH review - four UK premieres, from random to abundant

★★★★ HODGES, LPO, GARDNER, RFH Four UK premieres, from random to abundant

Brilliant execution of very different works spanning 13 years of the 21st century

Kudos, first, to Edward Gardner for mastering a rainbow programme of 21st century works in his first season as the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Principal Conductor. Three Americans and a Berlin-based Brit, two women composers and two men, one of them a Pulitzer Prize-winning Afro-American who wrote the work in question in his nineties, all had the benefit of committed, clearly well-prepared performances, enthusiastically received by an ideally mixed audience.