Critics’ Pick: 2025’s Best UK Classical & Opera Moments

Step behind the velvet curtain and discover which live performances set the UK’s classical and opera scene alight in 2025. In this one-off digital digest, The Guardian’s award-winning critics share the shows, premieres and festivals that stopped them scribbling in their notebooks and left them applauding in the aisles. From Benjamin Britten’s centennial celebrations at Snape Maltings to a daring new opera about AI staged inside a decommissioned power station, the roundup distils a year of standout artistry into an hour-long, multimedia-rich experience you can stream from anywhere.

Highlights include a rare revival of Ethel Smyth’s The Wreckers at Glyndebourne, the London Symphony Orchestra’s first performance of a lost Vaughan Williams manuscript unearthed in a Cornish attic, and a midnight prom that transformed Edinburgh’s underground vaults into a surround-sound Mahler cathedral. Each critic pairs vivid reportage with behind-the-scenes insight—how a conductor re-orchestrated Bruckner for 30 musicians, why a soprano sang the Queen of the Night atop a 30-foot scaffold, and what it felt like when a community chorus of refugees joined the Hallé for a new cantata about migration.

Interactive timelines, artist interviews and 360° stage photography let you revisit these moments as if you had the best seat in the house. Whether you’re a seasoned subscriber or a curious newcomer, this curated journey offers inspiration for your 2026 cultural calendar and a masterclass in what makes live music unforgettable.