Hear world-class performances from your armchair, as opera houses, orchestras and soloists entertain, mostly free, on air and online, and on DVD. For our favourites, click on Read More. And look out for one-off performances among dates listed below.
Culture Whisper constantly updates this list as more initiatives launch, keeping Londoners abreast of new ways to enjoy the best music at home.
Nightly streaming from the Met of recent and landmark opera productions, each with all-star casts. Catch up with that opera you have never seen, or revisit a favourite. Coming soon: Bizet's The Pearl Fishers (Sat 4 April), Verdi's Macbeth (Sun 5 April), Bellini's Norma with Sondra Radvanovsky (pictured, Mon 6 April), and Verdi's Aida (Tues 7 April).
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Mozart's effervescent comedy The Marriage of Figaro was one of the big hits of Garsington Opera's 2017 season, and now you can relive those summer nights and invite an all-star cast into your home. Joshua Bloom is the resourceful Figaro, who wrongfoots the boss who lusts after his fiancée, Susanna, sung by Jennifer France.
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The best dance and opera productions from the Royal Opera House are streamed most Fridays. First opera, with dance by the Royal Ballet, is Handel's lively Acis and Galatea (3 April). Then Mozart's comedy Così Fan Tutte (10 April) and Britten's Eliabethan opera Gloriana (24 April). All at 7PM
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A fantastic music library of opera and concerts features both British orchestras and companies such a Glyndebourne Festival Opera (pictured) and leading international productions and ensembles. New titles are added all the time, and you enjoy a free 30-day trial before committing to a subscription at around £9 a month,
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This scintillating German orchestra puts concerts online and also takes music-lovers behind the scenes. We love the all-Beethoven concert featuring violinists Anne-Sophie Mutter in the composer's Violin Concerto, followed by the sprightly Symphony No 4. Recorded at the beginning of March, it takes you right inside Munich's elegant concert hall.
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Opera houses and concert halls Europe-wide are within reach though EU-funded Arte, an ever-changing treasure trove of performances and documentaries in English or another European language of your choice. Register free, and build your own library, or dip in to new programmes. Currently on offer, in this big Beethoven year, the early version of his opera Fidelio, Leonore from Vienna, starring Royal Opera House favourite Jennifer Davis (pictured).
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There is a wealth of classical music and opera on Spotify, and for subscribers, founder and CEO of Grange Park Opera (pictured), Wasfi Kani, has compiled a daily playlist. Favourite operatic, orchestral and chamber music includes Mendelssohn's joyful Violin Concerto played by David Oistrakh and Bruckner's uplifting motet Locus Iste. Grange Park Opera has suspended its summer season: this is an illuminating way to stay close to the innovative company.
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Sign up free to this Belgium-based international opera library, and you can help yourself to productions from all over the world, with new ones added almost daily. Among the archive, Garsington Opera's big 2019 hit The Bartered Bride, with the stupendous Welsh soprano Natalya Romaniw (pictured). Coming soon: Mozart's Lucio Silla from La Monnaie, Brussels, and his Die Entführung aus dem Serail from Glyndebourne.
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Round the clock, BBC Radio 3 features live and recorded performances, music-based interviews, features and documentaries. Our favourite: Composer of the Week, Mon-Fri 12PM-1PM, revealing a life and its work, and In Tune, Mon-Fri 5PM-7PM, with studio performances from exciting young artists such as Thomas Gould (pictured).
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Many of the finest productions at Covent Garden are available on DVD, on the Opus Arte label. Recent favourites include Ermonela Jaho in a five-star Verdi's La Traviata (pictured), but the list runs into hundreds. You can even compare and contrast different productions.
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Sir Simon Rattle's Barbican-based orchestra has a vast array of concert pieces online. Build your own programme, with your favourite soloists. We love Janacek's spirit-raising Sinfonietta with its big brass fanfare.
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'There's a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in.' That's the wisdom of pianist Igor Levit (pictured), who has put his brilliant and beguiling playing online. Works include some by Beethoven, continuing the mark 250 years since the composer's birth.
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For 30 days a free trial with streaming service takt1 will open the doors of the world's concert halls and opera houses, both for live performances and for memorable evenings from concerts past. Coming up, Sir Antonio Pappano conducting the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in an all-Liszt programme (24 April). In the meantime, dip into the library: we love the 2019 concert from Vienna featuring Shostakovich's Symphony No 10 and the virtuosic Yuja Wang (pictured) in the romantic Schumann Piano Concerto.
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The stupendous Berlin orchestra, one of the oldest and most disciplined in the world, has put its archive online and it's free if you redeem an online voucher before 31 March. Concerts on offer are both recent successes and historic events, such as the landmark 1997 European Concert from Versailles, directed from the keyboard by Daniel Barenboim (pictured).
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You'll feel you should have worn your tiara when you log on to the Austrian capital's elegant and world-beating operas online. Years of spectacular productions are being streamed. Coming soon: Puccini's Tosca, Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro and Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier (pictured).
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