Live, Video: Kritiken zu klassischen Konzerten, Opern, Ballett und Tanz finden | Eddie Wade

It's the world's best opera – if we can define that as the one best suited to the distinctive talents of a composing genius.

The second revival of Richard Jones' staging of Mussorgsky's original 1869 version of Boris Godunov once again stars the Welsh knight. 

It's not without flaws, but the latest revival of Richard Jones' beautiful production of Puccini's beloved Parisian tale has drama aplenty.

Henry Neill gives a devastating performance as Sam in Trouble in Tahiti in The Royal Opera’s Bernstein double bill in the Linbury Theatre. 

The Royal Opera orchestra, chorus and a large cast bring their A game to Sir Antonio Pappano's last run as music director.

The Armenian soprano sweeps all before her in a delightfully controlled, touching performance, enhanced by a voice that would melt the stoniest of hearts. 

Orpha Phelan directs a terrific cast of singers in an inventive and faithful production making for an evening to remember. 

This third revival of Richard Jones' production is thoroughly competent but struggles to rise above the routine.

Welsh National Opera brought a cast of strong voices to Birmingham for a production of Rigoletto intriguingly set in the White House of the 1960s. 

The French-Sicilian tenor shines in Sir David's McVicar's pristine take on Umberto Giordano's slice of verismo. 

Designer/director Antony McDonald treads a perfectly weighted path between light and dark of the fairytale; conductor Sebastian Weigle cooks up a Wagnerian storm; Michaela Schuster steals the show. A treat.

Daisy Evans' take on Verdi's iconic tale of love stymied by the cruelty of others is characteristically innovative and insightful, while also blessed with a remarkable central performance from Anna Patalong. 

At the opera’s great climaxes Suffolk’s famous wood-and-brick building could barely contain it.

Opera North's production of Benjamin Britten's Billy Budd, directed by Orpha Phelan, is a tense psychological drama which puts the emphasis on issues of democracy and attitudes to dictatorship. 

West Green House Opera opened its season with a cast of rising stars and veterans in an simple, but elegant production of Verdi's classic La traviata.

Iford's stone cloister makes a suitably eerie setting for a fine traditional account of Verdi's Macbeth, notable for its powerful male leads, from Iford Festival Opera and the CHROMA Ensemble.

While it may seem perfectly formed for the full grand opera treatment, Verdi's classic Un ballo in maschera can also work extremely well on a small scale, as shown by this intimate and compelling treatment by Timothy Nelson at Iford. 

In the third concert presentation of Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov in London this season, the Philharmonia's semi-staged attempt, conducted by Jakub Hrůša, was admirable. 

Tom Cairns’ Glyndebourne production features svelte costumes and sets, yet – unlike Verdi’s response to Marie Duplessis’ fate – Violetta’s tale left me entirely unmoved.

A superb concert performance of Der Rosenkavalier with the CBSO and Andris Nelsons receives a rapturous reception. 

Opera North's La Fanciulla del West, directed by Aletta Collins, contains a bold performance from Alwyn Mellor as Minnie, and a powerful Ramerrez in Rafael Rojas.

A very concise, two-act opera which tells a bleak wartime tale of sacrifice, rarely performed and never realised to the satisfaction of its own composer. You could be forgiven for thinking I was describing something from 20th-century Germany, perhaps an expressionist work taking after Berg’s Wozzeck or similar. You’d be wrong.

Where could be more appropriate to see the story of Caligula, Rome’s most notorious emperor/self-proclaimed God, than in the Coliseum! Its purple SPQR livery made the opening to this performance all the more striking as Caligula, dishevelled, unhinged and not a little scary, crept on stage through the curtain in dead silence.

Since its first performance in 1742, Handel's Messiah has become one of the world's most popular and widely performed oratorios. With a biblical libretto which tells the story of Jesus from the Nativity to the Ascension, and stunning, joyous choral parts that lend themselves equally well to small and large choirs, the Messiah has become a festive must-hear.