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Harry Bicket brings verve and distinctiveness to a stellar cast in Stephen Wadsworth's production, which is neither conventional nor daring.

Forget Rimsky-Korsakov, forget the Polish act... Stephen Wadsworth's new production for The Met returns to Mussorgsky's original 1869 version of his Russian historical epic. 

Sung in English, a performance of Káťa Kabanová lacked the expressive power of the original, but exposed Juilliard Opera students to the marvels of Janáček’s musical style.

Wagner famously idealized the concept of the “Gesamtkunstwerk”, a total work of art that incorporates many artistic media into a single piece. He would have appreciated Seattle Opera’s production of Götterdämmerung.

Seattle Opera’s Siegfried takes place in familiar territory. Mime lives in the part of the forest where the gods roamed in Das Rheingold, and the dragon has made its lair where Hunding and Siegmund fought in Die Walküre (there’s even a bloodstain on the rock, which the Wanderer touches regretfully).

After Sunday night’s breathtaking Das Rheingold, it was difficult to imagine Die Walküre could be more beautiful or committed. Seattle Opera outdid themselves with this second installment of the Ring cycle, which featured energetic playing and singing, gorgeous stage pictures, and devastatingly believable acting from all of the singers.

Some Ring cycles are based on ideological concepts; Seattle Opera’s current Ring cycle is based on a place. That place is the Pacific Northwest of the United States, home to such extraordinary natural beauty that stage director Stephen Wadsworth has deemed it fit for the gods.

Read our review of Stephen Wadsworth's production of Rodelinda by Handel, in its 2011 HD broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

Handel, two cracking counter-tenors and Renée Fleming were all the excuses needed for a long-overdue trip to New York to hear Stephen Wadsworth's production of Rodelinda - the very piece which revived interest in Handel's opera following its performance in Göttingen in the 1920s.

Read our review of Stephen Wadsworth’s production of Iphigénie en Tauride by Gluck, in its 2011 broadcast from the Met Opera in New York.

  Read our review of Stephen Wadsworth's production of Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov in its 2010 broadcast from the Met Opera in New York.