Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland review – Lewis Carroll’s familiar characters move in from the garden

Alice gets a musical-theatre belter, the ‘Drink Me’ Bottle performs soprano acrobatics and the Caterpillar smokes his hookah like Audrey Hepburn

Das Rheingold review – a sure-footed feast as Alberich descends into madness

With its aquatic opening, magic tricks and grand procession across a rainbow bridge, Charlie Edwards’s production manages to remain clear-sighted despite modest budgets

Il Ritorno d’Ulisse review – a sensuous slice of opulence and luxury

Director John Caird and conductor Laurence Cummings bring Monteverdi back to the Chiltern Hills with polished, festive inclusivity

Elgar and Dvořák: Cello Concertos album review – Gerhardt’s readings are forthright, refreshing and thoughtful

Alban Gerhardt eschews the romantic, heart-on-sleeve interpretations of these famous concertos, and finds nobility and poetry even in the most turbulent music

Brahms: Violin Sonatas album review – Ehnes and Armstrong’s performances exude an effortless rightness

The Canadian violinist and American pianist – musical partners for over three decades – bring assurance and grace to these three violin sonatas written by Brahms in his creative prime.

Dazzling, delightful – and unfairly dismissed: Stephen Hough on the art of the transcription

Bach, Beethoven and Brahms did it. Liszt took it to such virtuosic heights that the entire genre almost collapsed. Ahead of his own album of transcriptions, the pianist and composer looks at the history of reworking existing music

From penalties to Pavarotti and Beckham to Bruckner: classical music and football are closer than you might think

As the World Cup gets underway, we look at the music that has soundtracked the beautiful game – and the composers who have loved it

L’Orfeo review – Kentridge’s exhilarating creativity animates compelling Monteverdi

A visual whirlwind accompanies charismatic and stylish performances in William Kentridge’s new staging. In the pit, Jonathan Cohen and the OAE add light and shade

BBCSSO / Wigglesworth / Osborne review – jazz energy meets its match in French insouciance

Ryan Wigglesworth’s piano concerto, veering between tense, creepy and off-kilter, brought out the best in soloist Steven Osborne

‘It’s about the power of music and art’: Glyndebourne stages its first ever L’Orfeo – photo essay

We go behind the scenes at rehearsals for William Kentridge’s new staging of Monteverdi’s 1607 opera l’Orfeo

Pelléas et Mélisande review – luminous semi-staging but Debussy’s elusive opera keeps its secrets

This year’s Aldeburgh festival opened with a stripped-back concert staging by Rory Kinnear with Ryan Wigglesworth conducting the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

Sally Beamish: House of Wonder album review – a musical shapeshifter celebrates 70 years

The British composer’s celebratory album is a family affair

Katia and Marielle Labèque: 55 album review – a handsome tribute to the sisters’ musical curiosity and brilliance

The pianist sisters’ celebration of their 55 years of recording is a thoughtfully curated compilation that reveals the extent of their omnivorous musical appetites

The Mahler Experiment review – physical drama comes at a musical cost in choreographed symphony

Tom Morris’s staged take on Mahler’s first symphony is valiantly performed by Stephanie Childress and Sinfonia Smith Square, but the result feels more like R&D than a finished product

How Max put Orkney at the heart of his St Magnus festival – and in the heart of his extraordinary music

The festival founded by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies hits its 50th edition this midsummer and continues to connect culture and community. Also this week – is 432Hz the magic number?