Veranstaltungsort: Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin

Paul Curran's production of Carmen is entertaining and slick, with Paula Murrihy as a feisty heroine.

Excellent soloists, inventive sets and fine direction from Sheil and Phelan makes for an entertaining Cenerentola at the Bord Gais Energy Theatre Dublin. 

Byrne is stunning in the title role while a strong cast of singers, orchestra, classic sets and dramatic acting make this a thoroughly enjoyable performance. 

Michael Barker-Caven sets Aida in a 21st-century war zone in the Middle-East, allowing the audience to focus on the human drama.

Good singing, incisive production and colourful choreography in The Mandela Trilogy make for many entertaining moments though inherent flaws in libretto and music fail to make it a satisfying, coherent whole. 

Stellar singing and excellent acting makes this a brilliantly satisfying and amusing 1970s take on Rossini's classic The Barber of Seville. 

The Irish première of John Adams' Nixon in China results in an inspiring and triumphant evening in Dublin. 

With an opera like Carmen, one never knows exactly what to expect. Recent trends (with English National Opera, for instance) have been to up the levels of raunchiness in an attempt to recreate the original scandale which this depiction of lower-class immorality in 19th-century Seville met with in Paris in 1875.