Top ten live performances I went to in 2023

In no particular order:

1.            Die Tote Stadt, Korngold: ENO

2.            The Rhinegold, Wagner: ENO

3.            Rachmaninov’s Paganini Rhapsody plus Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast: BBCSO, Makela, Wang, Proms

4.            Dialogues des Carmelites: Poulenc. Glyndebourne Festival Opera at the Proms, RAH

5.            Mahler 5: Concertgebouw Orchestra, Chung, Leipzig

6.            Midsummer Night’s Dream, Britten: Glyndebourne

7.            Bruckner 5, Thielemann – Berlin Staatskapelle

8.            Die Meistersinger, Wagner – Deutsche Oper Berlin

9.            Bach Goldberg Variations – Vikingur Olafsson, Liverpool

10.          Mahler 9 – Budapest Festival Orchestra, Fischer, Leipzig

It seems to me to have been an extraordinary year for excellent classical music and opera performances, in terms of what I have been able to get to (81 performances in all). I have come up with a ‘top ten’ for 2023, as above,  but it was very difficult to do this, and just look at what I have had to leave out – LSO/Rattle/Janacek’s Katya Kabanova; Czech PO/Bychkov  Mahler 6; Paul Lewis playing Schubert; Nelsons/Boston Symphony / Prokofiev 5; Berlioz, The Trojans at the Proms; Bayern SO/Jurowski  Strauss Alpine Symphony;  Handel’s Amadigi di Gaulla; Lise Davidsen in Don Carlo; the new ROHCG Rheingold; ROHCG Turandot; ROHCG Innocence; Elder/Halle – Elgar’s Dream Of Gerontius; Kurtag’s Endgame at the Proms; Peter Grimes ENO; Handel, Julius Caesar ETO; the LSO/Pappano Ades/Beethoven 7 concert; Lise Davidsen’s song recital in the Wigmore Hall, Scottish Opera’s Daphne (a full further 18 concerts/operas)