Performer: Natasha Jouhl

Wagnerites can get their fix in London this week, where Die Walküre opens the Grimeborn Festival in Julia Burbach's new production of the adaptation by Graham Vick and Jonathan Dove. 

A spirited performance of Verdi's beloved work highlighted the virtues of opera in concert.

A Madama Butterfly from beyond the grave? What would Julia Burbach's concept add to the familiar thread of Puccini's opera? 

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.

Tonight was the Dublin première of Dvořák’s opera Rusalka, and the most surprising fact about this is that it took 112 years for this enchanting opera to make its debut here. For, as tonight’s performance so aptly illustrated, Rusalka is a glorious work on so many different levels: it has hauntingly beautiful melodies, daring orchestral harmonies and an enchanting but ultimately tragic love story.

A trip to the opera at Garsington in its new, idyllic setting at Wormsley Estate, Buckinghamshire, is a fine treat even in the rain. And with a Don Giovanni production which, despite plenty of oddities, is light-hearted and often witty, an excellent evening of high-class entertainment is guaranteed.