The accompanist and arranger Bryan Davies was one of the most brilliant musicians to come out of south Wales. A concert pianist in his own right – the soprano Rebecca Evans dubbed him "the Rachmaninov of the Rhondda" – he was also an exceptional technical exponent of the art of accompanying. It was not only the most celebrated vocalists of the opera house and concert hall who could testify to his consummate musical skills, he was also a great enabler: he taught young musicians how they might become better than they had dreamt of being.

Those umbilically-joined directors Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier don’t always hit the spot – their ‘Hansel und Gretel’ is a queasy concoction – but when they do, the results are glorious, and never more so than with their take on Rossini’s ‘Il barbiere di Siviglia’, now back for its second revival.

The popular young soprano's third album is a bit of a cheat, being largely comprised of arias plucked from her two previous albums dedicated to Handel and Mozart, including the splendid duet from Don Giovanni with Bryn Terfel, "Là Ci Darem La Mano".

Big is beautiful as the Proms set sail on a wave of grandeur from Mahler, Wagner and Verdi

Season opens with a bang big enough to blow the roof off

The world's most popular tenor, in the world's most popular opera? Do you suppose this will sell?

The greatest classical music festival in the world is back – an unparalleled, gargantuan feast of bravura performance. Nicola Christie highlights this year's most enticing prospects and asks insiders for their pick of the Proms

Two operatic oddities, and a request to sponsor body parts, lift the spirits at Grange Park

While Saracens director Francois Pienaar chuckles at Matt Damon's prosthetically enhanced (the nose, that is) portrayal of him in 'Invictus', the South African-backed club are missing nine England players for their LV Cup tie against Newport-Gwent Dragons this afternoon. This is the end of the pool stage, and yesterday's results leave Gloucester, Saracens and Harlequins with a chance of joining Northampton in the last four in March. Quins and Gloucester could stop the Cardiff Blues and the Scarlets going through.

Bryn Terfel arrived in the capital armed with countless sneers and as many ways to make mischief. His latest album, Bad Boys – a comprehensive gallery of operatic rogues and villains – was now a tour, and there was a big, glossy, souvenir programme to prove it.

Bryn Terfel arrived in the capital armed with countless sneers and as many ways to make mischief. His latest album Bad Boys – a comprehensive gallery of operatic rogues and villains – was now a tour, and there was a big, glossy, souvenir programme to prove it. But at least this latest participant in the South Bank's "International Voices" series offered value for money – the big Welshman doesn’t short-change us, not even when he's in the guise of that prize quack Dr Dulcamara whose lotions and potions are cheap for a reason.

As a bass-baritone, Bryn Terfel regularly has to wear the metaphorical black hat in the standard operatic value-system, so this anthology of great bad-guy roles, from Iago and Mephistopheles to Sweeney Todd and Mack The Knife, is custom-built to showcase his dark, brooding qualities.

Ryder Cup captain insists 2010 back-up team will be strictly from world of golf