Nahoko Gotoh

The 2013 Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music opened at St John's Smith Square with a performance of Handel's remarkable L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato with Paul McCreesh and Gabrieli Consort & Players. It's a sensitive work that gives us nothing but pure pleasure.

A concert performance of Handel's Radamisto came to the Barbican, from The English Concert and an impressive set of soloists including countertenor David Daniels. Despite three of the singers suffering from colds, there were strong performances to enjoy.

Bampton Classical Opera is a company dedicated to performing rarely-performed 18th-century operas. This double-bill at St John's Smith Square saw them revive two little-known French opéras comiques by Philidor and Grétry, with Chroma providing the orchestral part.

Glyndebourne brought their hottest production of the summer, The Marriage of Figaro, and it was wonderful to see the Albert Hall packed to rafters. As well as some excellent singing from the soloists, there was an obvious trust between conductor Robin Ticciati and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

Jiří Bělohlávek, who was indisposed for his first scheduled Proms performance this year (in his final season as Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra), was back on the podium to conduct a Slavic-themed programme on Wednesday night, with Smetana, Prokofiev and Dvořák on the programme.

Part of the City of London Festival, the Merchant Taylors’ Hall in Threadneedle Street hosted a joint recital by two recent winners of prestigious international competitions: Armenian cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan, winner of the 2011 Tchaikovsky International Competition, and Russian pianist Denis Kozhukhin, winner of the 2010 Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels.

Gustav Leonhardt, who died in January this year, was a great pioneer in the early music movement – as harpsichordist, organist, conductor and teacher – and he influenced all subsequent musicians in the field whether directly or indirectly. Nicolette Moonen and the Bach Players here presented a moving tribute to Leonhardt and his work.

The final of this year’s Handel Singing Competition, which opened the 2012 London Handel Festival, was a rare occasion when the winner of the First Prize matched the winner of the Audience Prize, giving satisfaction all round. This year’s winner, Ukrainian mezzo-soprano Anna Starushke, was the first mezzo-soprano ever to win the competition.