Performer: Christopher Cull

Rain cannot wash away the charm of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Lismore Castle, a visually clever, if uneven, outdoor staging with moments of real enchantment.

Every July, Buxton’s charming opera house hosts an international festival of opera, literature and the arts. This year the festival opened with a strong familiar favourite, Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin.

Oliver Mears' impressively-cast farewell production in Belfast combines gripping drama and exuberant fun in a symbol-packed reading of Don Giovanni.