The conductor was sexually abused as a boy and found solace in music. Now his groundbreaking Paraorchestra for disabled performers is making its Proms debut

The creators of the first Sherlock Holmes opera tell Holly Williams about putting the detective on stage as part of Leeds Opera Festival

At the Edinburgh International Festival, this Komische Oper Berlin staging drops like a small bomb at the Festival Theatre

As the conductor returns to the UK to lead his German orchestra at the Proms, he talks about his career battles, Liverpool upbringing and fears for Britain

The Royal Albert Hall gave a long and loud ovation to Daniel Barenboim, 81, as he returned to the UK with his Arab-Israeli orchestra and violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter

Energetic opera singer closely associated with English-language repertoire who sang Rule Britannia! at the Last Night of the Proms after the Falklands conflict

Benjamin Grosvenor was the champion this kaleidoscopic piece needs, expertly led by Edward Gardner and the London Philharmonic at the Royal Albert Hall

This all-American concert at the Royal Albert Hall was emotionally intense and featured a bumper line-up of the US’s greatest hits

The director Andreas Homoki’s ingenious production at Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, leaps by decades and also uses metatheatre

If the rest of the festival matches the first 24 hours, it will be three weeks to remember