Far Theatricals

Two of the biggest hits commissioned by the John Armitage Memorial were featured in this inspiring concert

Stefano Bollani

Bollani is a fearless improviser, and a restless stage presence, here abetted by the brilliant trumpet of Enrico Rava

The King’s Singers

This was Singers in their most aromatic mode, hymning the Virgin Mary in settings from the Middle Ages to the present

Arditti Quartet/ Hilliard Ensemble

Jonathan Harvey is composer in residence at the celebration of all that is new (and some that isn’t) in contemporary music

BBC SO/Frisell/Gibbs

Much of this genre-blending concert was given over to Mike Gibbs’s orchestration of Bill Frisell’s “motifs” in Collage for a...

Will Young

The ordinary, unflashy boy who started his singing career on Pop Idol is on his way to becoming a national treasure

First Night: White Lies, Brixton Academy

Grandiose is in the musical genes of this band that started the year third on the bill and ended it with a major tour

London Philharmonic Orchestra at Jurowski Festival Hall

The LPO’s Schnittke Festival, Between Two Worlds, kicks off with a revelatory semi-staged performance of his Faust Cantata

The Decemberists

Sixties folk meets heavy metal in an impressive but slightly hard to connect with set. Perhaps being a bearded man helps

Nitin Sawhney

The co-curator of the South Asian Svapnagata Festival gave a performance that was a little too minimal to be convincing

Academy of St Martin in the Fields/Perahia

Two concerts in one — with five-star piano playing as a centrepiece, framed by three-star orchestral performance

Four stars for Seasick Steve at Brixton Academy

It is an odd paradox that a man who has lived through so much hardship can so readily evoke the feelgood factor

Marcus Roberts

The pianist’s trio acoustic performance proved that for them the forest of microphones around most jazz gigs is completely unnecessary

Aldeburgh Highlights

For the thrilling Monteverdi finale the bright paint still seemed wet as the singers coloured every word exquisitely

Philharmonia/Petrenko

Mussorgsky’s bare mountain throbbed and glowered with baleful sonorities; Shostakovich received a magnificently menacing performance

Melody Gardot

Gardot’s singing voice is astonishingly delicate. We are listening to an angel

Yusuf Islam

On the opening date of his first tour in 33 years Yusuf Islam saw fans storm out, but there were some spine-tingling moments

Yusuf Islam at 02, Dublin

On the debut date of his first tour in 33 years, fans stormed out and two of his best-known songs were spoiled by booing

London Symphony Orchestra/Harding

Despite some fine moments, in Mahler’s Sixth Symphony the bigger picture seemed to elude Harding

London Jazz Festival

John Schofield’s loose-limbed collection of R&B and gospel vamps and Bobby Hutcherson’s punctilious vibes opened the festival