Support Us Login

Classical Music

Best concerts and opera in June

By Claudia Pritchard on 20/5/2022

London's own opera festival, spirited programmes from the city's liveliest orchestras, and high-flying soloists. Summer music starts here....

Garsington Opera 2022 opens with Monteverdi's Orfeo

Orfeo, Garsington Opera

Opera is an ever-evolving art form, but at the start of its evolution was the Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi's Orfeo – and it still captivates audiences today. Garsington Opera 2022 opens with this important and entrancing opera, telling in music the story of Orpheus regaining his beloved Eurydice from the Underworld – and losing her again.

WHEN

01 Jun 2022 – 03 Jul 2022, Eight performances, with long dinner interval

WHERE

Garsington Opera
Wormsley Estate , Stokenchurch, HP14 3YG

Thomas Mole sings the dashing toreador Escamillo in Carmen

Carmen, Opera Holland Park

Set in Seville, sung in French, staged in west London, Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen is an international feast of music served with passion. At Opera Holland Park, a new production of this flamboyant piece directed by Cecilia Stinton features an exciting young cast including, as the flashy toreador Escamillo, Thomas Mole (pictured).

WHEN

02 Jun 2022 – 24 Jun 2022, Nine evening performances, and at 2PM on Sat 12 June

WHERE

Opera Holland Park
Stable Yard, Holland Park, London , W8 6LU

Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Barbican

A rare visit by Norway's premier orchestra under its dynamic young conductor Klaus Mäkelä (pictured, centre). The musicians play the Adagio from Mahler's Symphony No 10 and the evocative Symphony No 5 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The orchestra is joined by a fellow Norwegian, the thrilling soprano Lise Davidsen in Alban Berg's Seven Early Songs. An orchestra to catch now, or at its BBC Proms appearance on Fri 12 Aug.

WHEN

Fri 3 June 2022, 7:30PM

Aldeburgh Festival

Enjoy evenings of the finest music after days by the sea at the Aldeburgh Festival in Suffolk. Founded by composer Benjamin Britten and his partner, tenor Peter Pears, the festival is now in its 73rd year. Artists include violinist Nicola Benedetti, Icelandic pianist Vikingur Olafsson, mezzo-soprano Dame Sarah Connolly, and the Britten Sinfonia in a new Recycling Concerto with percussion instruments fashioned from rubbish.

WHEN

Fri 3 June-Sun 26 June 2022, times vary

WHERE

Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Snape Bridge, Snape IP17 1SP

Concerto Budapest Symphony Orchestra, Cadogan Hall

Expect Hungarian composer Béla Bartók's entertaining Concerto for Orchestra to be played with exceptional gusto when the Hungarian Concerto Budapest Symphony Orchestra, under András Keller, appears at Cadogan Hall, with guest Angela Hewitt (pictured). She is the soloist in Mozart's Piano Concerto No 23, and the evening ends with the rousing Beethoven Symphony No 5.

WHEN

Mon 6 June 2022, 7:30PM

WHERE

Cadogan Hall, 5 Sloane Terrace, London SW1X 9DQ

Opera-lovers picnic in the gardens during the long interval at Grange Park Opera

Grange Park Opera 2022

The opera company that kept the music ringing out against all the odds during lockdown is back in its natural habitat when Grange Park Opera opens its five-week season of productions in June. The Theatre in the Woods this year offers works by Leoš Janáček, Ponchielli, Verdi and Wagner, with some very classy singers – and gorgeous gardens to picnic in.

WHEN

09 Jun 2022 – 17 Jul 2022, Four productions, with long dinner interval

WHERE

Grange Park Opera
West Horsley Place, West Horsley,, Leatherhead, KT24 6AW

London Symphony Orchestra plays Gershwin

A very spirited concert by the LSO under Sir Simon Rattle (pictured) opens with a high-speed symphony by Haydn and closes with George Gerswhin's toe-tapping An American in Paris. In between, the youthful Piano Concerto No 18 by Mozart, Gerswhin's turbo-charged Cuban Overture and 'a postcard from America' from contemporary composer John Adams. A real party night.

WHEN

Sun 12 June 2022, 7PM

WHERE

Barbican Hall, Silk Street, Barbican, London EC2Y 8DS

Rusalka, Garsington Opera

You know the story – a water creature becomes infatuated with a mortal man, and to be with him sacrifices the very voice that entrances him. Czech composer Antonin Dvorák's opera daringly puts the story of a songless heroine into music. Soprano Natalya Romaniw (pictured) sings the captivating title role in this new production. Listen out for the dreamy Song to the Moon in this heartbreaking fable.

WHEN

Nine performances 18 June-19 July 2022, 5:25PM-10:15PM, including long dinner interval

WHERE

Garsington Opera
Wormsley Estate , Stokenchurch HP14 3YG

Shostakovich by heart, Aurora Orchestra

The dynamic Aurora players under conductor Nicholas Collon have injected new life into familiar pieces with their performances from memory. Hear Dmitri Shostakovich's rhythmic Symphony No 9 played by heart, after Collon and BBC music presenter Tom Service share with the audience some insights into the composition. To open, the orchestra is joined by Ukrainian violinist Valeriy Sokolov in Tchaikovsky's lovely Violin Concerto.

WHEN

Fri 24 June 2022, 7:30PM

WHERE

Royal Festival Hall, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX

Up Close and Musical Festival, Fidelio Café

The Fidelio Café hosts top-class small-scale concerts, with dinner and drinks for those who want. This weekend it stages five concerts featuring entirely women artists, the music of many appealing but sometimes overlooked composers, and also some of today's most exciting compositions. Artists include violinist Fenella Humphreys, pianist Clare Hammond. Don't miss the lively Eusebius Quartet in Bartók and Elgar, or Trio Klein (pictured) with their 80s night – and signature cocktail.

WHEN

24-25 June 2022, times vary

WHERE

Fidelio Café, 91-95 Clerkenwell Rd, London EC1R 5BX

Best concerts and opera in June

London's own opera festival, spirited programmes from the city's liveliest orchestras, and high-flying soloists. Summer music starts here....

Orfeo, Garsington Opera

Carmen, Opera Holland Park

Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Barbican

Aldeburgh Festival

Concerto Budapest Symphony Orchestra, Cadogan Hall

Grange Park Opera 2022

London Symphony Orchestra plays Gershwin

Rusalka, Garsington Opera

Shostakovich by heart, Aurora Orchestra

Up Close and Musical Festival, Fidelio Café

Opera Holland Park

Tchaikovsky

London Symphony Orchestra

Sir Simon Rattle

Shostakovich

Garsington Opera 2022

Opera Holland Park 2022

Royal Opera 2022/23: the operas and artists

12 best concerts and opera in May

Glyndebourne Festival Opera 2023

Grange Park Opera 2022