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Berlioz' oratorio provides a welcome alternative to the usual Christmastime Messiah at the Maison symphonique. 

Laurent Pelly’s elegant musical stave production of Il barbiere di Siviglia, from the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, charms and delights at the Edinburgh International Festival.

The third opera of the Mozart-Da Ponte trilogy opens the opera festival in Drottningholm, the "Swedish Versailles", with a good cast beautifully conducted by Marc Minkowski.

Le nozze di Figaro is called Figaro’s Bröllop in Swedish, which sounds quite funny to ‘non-Svensks’. With Marcellina behaving like a total trollop, all that is needed to complete the rhyming triplet are the Wallops at Glyndebourne.

Peter Sellars successfully updated the ancient magic in Wagner’s opera Tristan und Isolde. Wagner had already modernised the medieval tale by focusing on the middle of the story, where the passion of the doomed lovers catches fire. Wagner treats the mythic origins of the romance as back-story recollected while passions are flaring.

It's about time someone wrote an opera about the internet. And who better than Nico Muhly - snarky blogger, snappy Tweeter, and according to the Daily Telegraph "the hottest young composer around"? Add seasoned playwright Craig Lucas, top Broadway director Bartlett Sher and some of Britain's finest singers, and you might expect them to cook up a success.