Der Nussknacker

Tchaikovsky's 'Nutcracker' lights up the hall shortly before Christmas: dance, fairy tale, confectionery and orchestral splendour combine into one of those great warhorses one never tires of hearing. All the more exciting is how this evening opens up the familiar classic. Ethel Smyth stands alongside Stravinsky, Debussy and women's rights as a significant artist – combative, idiosyncratic and anything but a marginal figure.