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Visual symbolism and musical ambition in a production at the George Enescu International Festival. 

The Polish director comes to Italy for the first time to direct Janáček's last opera, with the young Belarusian Dmitry Matvienko  conducting.

Philip Glass' operatic take on Ancient Egyptian history returns to the Coliseum in Phelim McDermott's hypnotic production, complete with jugglers...

Swedish soprano Malin Byström returns to Sir David McVicar's production at Covent Garden, where she is now probably unsurpassed in the role, vocally and histrionically.

Christof Loy would seem to be the perfect director for Covid-era opera, his stripped back production of Verdi's rare middle period opera directed remotely from Austria.

Wolf-Ferrari's Il segreto di Susanna provides an airy bon-bouche to Tchaikovsky's Iolanta, brilliantly sung by Natalya Romaniw and David Butt Philip and conducted to fairy-tale perfection by Sian Edwards

Directing Entführung at the grand old age of 85, John Copley gives us plenty of fun in the Pasha's palace. 

Henrik Nánási balances the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House to perfection, setting the stage for a memorable title role performance from Byström and a powerful Jochanaan from Michael Volle.

Problems of orchestral balance cloud Olivia Fuchs's straightforward, compelling staging of Janáček’s tirade against the rigidity and hypocrisy of small town society.

An incredible musical performance - by pianists and singers - that is not well enough matched by the visual experience of cluttered creativity in which excellent dancers are often anonymous 

Scottish Opera may be admirably committed to Mascagni's under-appreciated opera, but the musical quality and vision are lacking.

Inventive comedy and excellent musicality bring Sir Thomas Allen’s traditional production back to life.

West Green House Opera opened its season with a cast of rising stars and veterans in an simple, but elegant production of Verdi's classic La traviata.

Gerald Barry’s deliciously anarchic operatic setting of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest returns to the London stage.

The Chelsea Opera Group give a concert performance of Wagner's early opera Das Liebesverbot conducted by Anthony Negus.

Philip Glass finds a new simplicity in an impressive première production of The Trial from Music Theatre Wales. 

Big opera productions capture the limelight, but there is no denying the impact of Scottish Opera arriving in tiny communities with this entertaining show of staged operatic excerpts.

In his programme note, director John Fulljames remarked that “any opera has many layers of authorship”, and that is truer of American Lulu than most.Alban Berg compiled the original libretto for Lulu (1929–34) from two plays by Frank Wedekind: Erdgreist (“Earth Spirit”, 1895) and Die Büsche der Pandora (“Pandora’s Box”, 1904). At the time of Berg”s death in 1935 the third act remained incomplete.

Interviewed at the Barbican Centre last year, Stephen Fry described Gerald Barry’s score for The Importance of Being Earnest (2010) rather unfavourably as “taking a machete to a soufflé”. However, this zany opera based on Oscar Wilde’s classic play of 1895 has already emerged victorious from concert premières in Los Angeles and London.

Alzira, Verdi’s eighth opera, is something of a discarded child within his canon, not least because of Verdi’s own dismissal of it as “proprio brutta” (really ugly) after it was poorly received both in Naples and Rome. Perhaps Verdi was stung by a blot on an otherwise successful career: on the basis of last night’s concert performance by Chelsea Opera Group, the score has plenty to commend it.

Le directeur de la maison lyonnaise propose une lecture de l'ouvrage de Janáček efficace à défaut d'être percutante. L'excellent Alexander Joel est à la baguette devant une distribution plutôt convaincante.

Die 1966 entstandene avantgardistische Oper erlebt in Zürich erst ihre vierte Aufführung. Der Dirigent Gabriel Feltz, der Regisseur Sebastian Baumgarten und ein spielfreudiges Sängerensemble bereiten dem monströsen Werk einen Triumph.

Sous la direction précise et dynamique de François-Xavier Roth, l'unique opéra du compositeur hongrois, proposé dans une nouvelle version française, est servi par une distribution excellente.

Musikalisch überzeugend, aber aufgrund der fehlenden Regie bleiben viele Absurditäten und der abgründige Schabernack auf der Strecke.