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Bergen National Opera’s new production allows the story to speak to itself, while strong performances from Eric Halfvarson and Elisabeth Teige gave the performance its edge.

The final instalment of the Hong Kong Philharmonic's Ring cycle merits the orchestra joining the international big league. 

A visually stunning production with a fine cast to match. 

A stunning Sieglinde from Mattila eclipses Kaufmann's restrained Siegmund; Pappano conjures exceptional detail and drive from the LSO.

Were it not for a sterling musical display, built on the shoulders of bass Ferruccio Furlanetto and conductor Myung-whun Chung, this could have been a very long night indeed.

Kent's staging brings out the sleaze in Puccini's first big hit; Sondra Radvanovsky thrills in the title role; the musical performance improves through the evening.

When an enormous black gondola creaks and shudders its way across the stage in the “Giulietta' act of the Royal Opera's Tales of Hoffmann, it acts as a metaphor for John Schlesinger's venerable production.

Tonight’s Götterdämmerung brought the cycle to a fitting – and wholly American – conclusion. 

Sadly, Damiano Michieletto and Antonio Pappano's production is more likely to be remembered for its failings – the awful rape scene, its dullness, plus a list of annoying details too long to mention – than for its musical excellence. It’s worth seeing to get a feel of both.

Kasper Holten's virtuosic staging is revived by the Royal Opera with a cast of three exceptionally strong women, and accomplished performances by Christopher Maltman and Alex Esposito as the Don and his servant.

Last night’s performance, the second after a serious casting face-lift held to that tradition, and was very well received despite its inherent flaws, thanks to some very fine singing.

The third part of Daniel Barenboim’s Ring cycle at the Proms proved to be similarly successful to the first two operas of the cycle, leaving both audience and conductor apparently delighted at its conclusion.The chief justification for “semi-staged” productions such as this is that they encourage greater focus on the music, and particularly on the orchestra.

Dipping my toes into the murky waters of the Wagner-fest at the Proms this year for the first time, I found myself confronted with the monumental second installment of the Ring cycle, Die Walküre.

A Beethoven cycle last year, The Ring this year: what will Daniel Barenboim bring to the 2014 Proms? Perhaps, given the recent success of extracts both at the Proms and at Lincoln Center Festival, the smart money is on Karlheinz Stockhausen’s 29-hour, seven-opera cycle Licht. Then again, perhaps not.