Ludovico Einaudi, crossover star
The Italian pianist and composer is one of the world’s most successful musicians – and a bundle of contradictions, writes Laura Battle

Though Vladimir Jurowski led a superb staging, the piece belongs in the more forgettable sector of the composer’s legacy, writes Andrew Clark
This American band precisely capture the pretty acoustic guitars and crashing riffs of its source material – English folk-rock of the late-1960s and early-1970s, writes Ludovic Hunter-Tilney
Mike Hobart is impressed by two fresh American takes on the acoustic piano trio
With this staging, the opera seems the summit of Strauss’s achievement, says George Loomis
The mood at this promo concert for new album ‘Rated R’ was dark and aggressive, writes Ludovic Hunter-Tilney
Without Matt Bellamy’s pyrotechnic guitar shredding this was standard post-grunge churn, writes Richard Clayton
When the curtain fell, stunned silence preceded the inevitable ovation, writes Martin Bernheimer
The Congolese band have an extraordinary back story. But what mattered at this gig was their extraordinary music, which confirmed them as the most exciting group to emerge from Africa in years, David Honigmann writes
The singing was excellent, the dancing immaculate, the spectacle dazzling – but the cumulative effect of the show’s meticulously programmed bigness and bluster was ultimately wearing, writes David Cheal
Mike Hobart hears Sonny Rollins spin grandiose structures from the simplest materials in his headlining concert at the London Jazz Festival
The Italian pianist and composer is one of the world’s most successful musicians – and a bundle of contradictions, writes Laura Battle
Patti Smith performed at a new exhibition of Mapplethorpe photographs and Peter Aspden says she has mastered the delicate dilemma of how a posturing rock star should handle the autumnal years
From Ethiopian jazz to Nigerian funk, western music has taken root in Africa with newcomers blending genres, says Ludovic Hunter-Tilney
Lute player Paula Chateauneuf will aim to give the art of extemporisation wider public exposure together with Division Lobby, her newly formed group, writes Laura Battle
The rock survivors notorious for their excesses are in implausibly good form, writes Ludovic Hunter-Tilney
David Honigmann is impressed by a double bill of two unlikely Mercury Prize nominees
Martin Bernheimer enjoys a stellar, zigzagging east-meets-west mishmash
With past efforts to get opera to work in the confines of this venue having had limited success, it is a measure of the strength of Cape Town Opera’s cast that they made such a good fist of it, writes Richard Fairman